One, Two, Three – GO!

Wikipedia defines Numerology “any belief in the purported divine, mystical . . . relationship between a number and some coinciding events.”

Adam needed Eve, so the number “two” became connected with having a “suitable helper” (Hebrew ezer). And together, the two were able to produce “baby” – and now we have the significance of three.

God divided Israel into 12 tribes and the Israelites were divided into groups of 10 for Passover celebrations. There are 144,000 in Revelation 7:4 and in Revelation 7:9 “a great multitude that no one can count.”

We have a tendency in the cell world to be enamored by the number 12 or 2. Some have deified them as the perfect number causing growth. One Brazilian pastor even replaced the Cross on the front of the sanctuary with the High Priest’s breastplate containing 12 stones, the “sacred” number.

Can we agree that any number, in the proper setting, is the “right” number, but to give prominence to any number may be to breed one more passing fad?

ONE, -- When Paul prayed for direction in Acts 16:9, he was alone. There are times when One is the intimate way to meet God.

TWO, --When Jesus sent the disciples and the seventy to penetrate the lost, He sent them in Twos.

THREE, --He defined His Presence as becoming a part of Two or Three “gathered in His name.”

TWELVE --His prototype for His new body was the calling of the Twelve, but He chose Three of them to be closest to Himself.

120 --He entered 120 at Pentecost and they quickly multiplied to 3,000 who went in small groups from house to house.

Let’s sublimate our passion for numbers with proper settings!

The setting sets the number. Mentoring often takes place one on one: that involves Two.

But there is greater power in groups of Three because community now exists. People first experience intimate community in a triad.

Community begins with Three and ends with Twelve. Why? Because of this formula: N x N –N = CL (Number of people, times number of people, minus number of people, equals communication lines). After 132 “CL’s” you enter into public gatherings mode where intimacy is impossible.

I writhe in agony when some pastor brags to me about his groups who he has allowed to grow to 25 or 45. Through ignorance, he has destroyed the value of his home cells!

The proper setting for intimacy with God is “One” person in the closet.

The proper setting for working with unbelievers is to send “Twos” into households, to live among the family and find the “Man of Peace.”

The proper setting for mentoring, as Jesus said, is in “Two or Three” with Him making the Fourth person.

The proper setting for a Cell is a gathering of three to twelve.

(MORE ABOUT THIS IN PART TWO}