For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Romans 8:14

The ground floor of the church building is the life of the Spirit, that is, being led by Him.

There is no other life, no other functional place of ministry than to be spiritually minded, and any ministry that occurs outside of that will only reproduce after its own kind.  Any other form of church is a hollow, man-made shell, with no lasting fruit nor legacy.

Jesus came and demonstrated the first spirit-led life.  He was cut off from this Earth through the waters of baptism, lived apart and separated in the Spirit realm of the Holy Ghost, and only after His death was he granted brothers.

All that He did, in His love, in His miracles, in His service, flowed completely from the place of complete and absolute union and surrender to the Holy Spirit who was in Him, that, though He was God completely, lived only through the unction and supply of God above through the Spirit of God within.

The basis for the church, the very ground floor level, is living by His Spirit completely.

When all else is surrendered, and all of this life and the soul life is sacrificed, then church begins.

It is from this foundation, helping others comes.

You cannot assist anyone to become spiritual until you are, even as Paul exhorted that if one was caught in a fault that those who were spiritual should restore such a one, in a spirit of meekness, lest they also be tempted (Galatians 6:1).

From the place of existing, abiding in the Spirit, the stones can be brought together.  Those in faith assist those who are yet weak, until the whole body is supplied from the head.

The whole of the Kingdom, and hence, the whole of church life, is the life of the Spirit.  Those living without, those still carnal and babes in Christ, have no more say in the affairs and the workings of the church, for it is by Faith alone that it is operated.

[N]or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God’s work—which is by faith.

1 Timothy 1:4

Short of this faith, of this abiding, the work of the church cannot proceed.  Distractions and dissipation will always guarantee that the only true church that stands against the spirit of the age is the one wholly built upon the Spirit of Christ (Matthew 7:24).

But, from this broad and spacious place, the work of the Gospel, led forth by true faith, is bears fruit and grows (Colossians 1:6), as God has ordained (Genesis 1:28).

Yet, this place, while it is the ground floor, is only the beginning.

Before this place, there can be no solid footing for the church, yet from this place, the progress of the Gospel, the order of faith and righteousness and the heavenly array can be brought forth in increasing and increasing weight and force, in all of the Spirit’s meekness, gentleness, and purity, until the whole of the body is fashioned, fit together as a godly house.

This place, this place of substance and being, is the operation of the Spirit.  There is not man’s judgment, nor is there man’s order, but the focus of the gaze is solely upon the Spirit and the Kingdom, with it’s King as the Chief thing.

The conversation of the church is godly in this place, and men and women are known after the Spirit, and not after the flesh.

It is from this place, properly rooted, that those who uphold the church and those that are elders, support those who are weak through the power of the anointing and the Spirit.

Through the atmosphere of faith, through the teaching and speaking forth of the Word of the Kingdom, a spiritual harvest and mutual edification of our faith occurs.

It is in the realm of the Spirit that babes can truly be raised up into mature sons, into able ministers of the Gospel, into teachers, and preachers, and workers of righteousness.  Failing to realize this place, however, the efforts that we produce end up carnal, or at least mixed.

The true operation of the Kingdom of God comes with the complete separation from the things of the flesh.  For, though we are in the world, we are not of it, nor do we set our minds or hearts on things of it, but on things above (Colossians 3:1-2).

From the sure foundation, from the sure and pure faith of the Word and in Jesus Christ, may we progress to be a fitly temple, fully built up, lacking no part.

May we see Him, who is our head, Lord of all, Lord over all the Earth, King over all other gods, and exalt Him, in His Heavenly glory, and follow Him alone.

For, if we are still trying to please men, we are not a servant of Christ (Galatians 1:10).

There can be no true, solid, and lasting church without such a foundation, although this is only the beginning, for every other church, if it can still catch a glimpse of the things of the Earth, will always go forward, take a step, stumble, and fall backwards.

But, that which is from above is above all, and there is no darkness in Him.