Why go to church?
Selective verses
Good Morning Everyone- We are glad that you are here.
Prayer-
I want to speak with you about “The church.”
The church is a building and church is people. The church is people who go to church and the people who go to church trying to get other people to go to church.
Those knowing Jesus and those needing to know Jesus.
The church has been under attack and has severely declined for several years for several reasons.
1960’s -80’s most attended a church even if they didn’t act Christian, they were in church.
Today in the 2000’s, most don’t go to church.
The church has recently been weakened by Covid-19 when church goers were forced to stay indoors and away from each other and it has further been weakened that even though we can freely come back together; many in the church have chosen to stay away and take a different approach on church.
“The church” and I call it that on purposed because to most people the church is just a giant institution made by man that exists in many different names. (Nazarenes, Baptist, Methodist…)
Church to many is a place you visit… when you feel like it… or someone has invited you and you no longer can hold them off and you have to give in and come.
We have a generation of people today that have never seen the inside of a church except a wedding and a funeral.
Too many people in a bizarre way think church is a punishment you have to go through until you old enough to make up your own mind to wither you will continue to go or not.
People look at those who have by their own desire and choice stayed in church and happy in the church are looked at as fanatical, especially if they go every week because the new normal of being a regular attender of church is to go to church once a month with no strings attached, meaning you don’t support the church financially and you have no teaching or volunteer responsibilities.
You come into a church building and you get to criticize and critique what is done and you determine if and when you will be or not be coming back.
Do I pretty much have that right?
That is not you because you are here but it is how most view the church.
In a day and age of so much technology, I believe we are asking some wrong questions of the church- we ask if it relevant and do you attend. The right question is do you know who instituted the church and if you do know who…why aren’t you attending?
Why don’t most go to church? If it is one of many options –
There are hypocrites going to that church
All they want is your money
I like to sleep in on Sunday
It is an institution I don’t believe in. I am a Christian and I like what they do but do not want to be a part of it.
If it is a commandment and not opinion than our answers… will not stand up.
The church is not a man made institution. It was not man’s idea. We always want to take credit for things we don’t do and things we cannot do. We are not as smart as we think we are!
Someone didn’t look into the community and say what do we have in common and let’s get together- that is how bowling leagues start, baseball teams, boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, but not the church.
The church was instituted by God Himself.
It was started in an upper room after Pentecost and the church was empowered to reach this world for Jesus and they could not do it in their own power.
Jesus was very direct and very precise what and how a church is formed and how it operates and if the church operates without God it is not a church it is a social club not the house of God.
The Old Testament temple had the Holy of Hollies, we talked last week about it, the earthly dwelling place of God.
When the veil was torn down by what Jesus did on the cross and by His resurrection and ascension to the right hand of the Father, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit of God Himself to dwell in the hearts and lives of believers.
It is a brick and mortar building (a place to worship) and it definitely inside the heart of a believer.
The church is not the church when it stays only in the building and it is not the church when we as believers don’t act like Christians.
The Church that Christ started-
Jesus told his disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them as they gathered together in one place-
Acts 2:1- “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place” and the Holy Spirit fell on them, meaning that the Holy Spirit now dwelled within them.
They began to do amazing things- things beyond what they could in their own strength and wisdom.
They thought Peter was drunk and He stood before them and told the crowd that the word of God would be fulfilled and that in the last days God says, “I will pour out my spirit on all people”
He began preaching salvation messages where 1000’s were saved.
Giving their lives to Christ and following Jesus. He says as believers, not just a few but all believers can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (39) “that promise is for all of you and your children, and for all whom the Lord our God calls.”
Scattered- they were forced by persecution to move and go into all the world.
Filled with the Spirit of God doing what God had called them to do, not just the disciples but all who called themselves believers.
As they went out, the Lord has shown us that we are not to be in isolation but gathered together to do the Lord’s work. He goes on in the book of Acts to tell us what church would look like.
Spirit filled believers doing kingdom work.
What I am saying to you this morning is… are we/you/I/ unbelievers blaming the church for personal people issues that had nothing to do with God’s church but happened to have happened while in church.
Why most people don’t go to church- because they do not know or understand what the church is and what is supposed to happen in the church because they do not give God enough time to reveal Himself to them.
Our opinions don’t matter- only what the Lord thinks about the church.
Most churches are lead by a pastor- an anointed, appointed, spirit-filled man/women called to bring the message of Christ to people who need to hear the message and be disciple to be followers of Christ.
There are a lot of factors in that statement we do not have time to go into- wither he/she is doing what they are suppose to be doing, and the attitude of the people he/she is leading.
Some have the wrong idea of what a pastor is suppose to be doing- there are some things he/she does not know and cannot know but is expected to know by people who have the wrong idea.
A pastor…any pastor cannot
Read minds
Be Everywhere
Change hearts
Know everything
Please everyone
Grow churches/God gives the increase
Multiply dollars that don’t come in
Escape mistakes/ they are human
Avoid favoritism/ he/she is allowed to have friends just like everyone else
Reveal everything
Ignore sin/ so he/she is not always going to be popular and if he/she is I wonder if they are turning a blind eye on things going on.
Christ instituted the church
A church not lead by the Holy spirit of God is a church that is not healthy I don’t care how many or how little the church attendance is!
Matthew 16- Jesus speaking to Peter asking him who people say Jesus is- Peter under the anointing of the Holy Spirit says “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”
Jesus reply- Get this!
(17) “Blessed are you Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it.
The gates of hell will not prevail against the church He instituted.
Persecution brought them closer to the Lord and our day is coming- the church will suffer for following Christ but the gates of hell will never destroy it.
That is a promise the Lord made and He will keep it.
It is on the foundation of Christ that the true church of Christ will stand and if the building gets destroyed and believers are scattered, he will still have a church, a people who will follow Him no matter what.
It is in the building that we learn what to do when the persecution and trouble comes and the ones that stay out of the building will be the one who will not know what to do when persecution and troubles hit!
Why I go to church? It is not because I AM FORCED TO BE HERE. It is because I have the priviledge and honor of being a follower of Jesus and I want to be here!
Why would I give my life to Christ and be used as a pastor- not for a holy huddle to sing a few songs but to be blessed to be a part of something bigger than I am under the direction of the Holy Spirit and teach people to walk with Jesus and serve Him with all their hearts not just a meeting place when we have nothing else to do.
Hebrews 10:19-25 Read from Bible clearly
Under the leadership of Jesus who gave us the privilege of being able to be in His Presence because the Holy Spirit dwells in us.
We need each other- it is a place of refreshing, rebooting and readjusting our lives to be more like Christ. When we don’t do it, we miss the benefits from the Lord.
By a new and living way opened up to us by Jesus to be able to draw near to God and for Him to draw near to us!
Having been washed by the blood of Christ, “let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful!”
“Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let’s encourage one another- and all the more as you see the Day approaching!”
You know what scare me the most? It is not the threat with all the chaos that one day I could be killed at the pulpit. It is not the fear of persecution for my beliefs. IT IS THE WORDS THAT COME FROM A BELIEVER THAT SAYS THAT THEY DON’T NEED CHURCH!
In that statement of 4 words… I don’t need church… there is a whole a lot of things going on.
They choose isolation over a gathering of believers.
They choose to not grow in their faith by being disciple.
They say they can worship God somewhere else but do they?
Going to church won’t save you- it has never saved one person… but it has kept many on track as they journey through this rough life.
They say to themselves that they can fix themselves, correct. Rebuke themselves, and take care of themselves and they don’t need anyone else to help them.
In most cases they say they don’t need Jesus!
We should not forbid the gathering of people of likeminded faith.
THE CHURCH- THE PYSICAL PLACE YOU PURPOSFULLY COME FAITHFULLY IS-
A place WHERE the word is preached by an anointed and selected man/women of God
A place of healing
A place of repentance
A safe place
A place to worship
A place for gathered private and corporate prayer with others
A place to serve/ get involved
A place to give/ you have the privilege of giving back
A place to grow spiritually
A place where you allow the Lord to be correct, rebuke, and reset you for service
As I close
1Timothy 6:11- Paul’s charge to Timothy and also to us-
“But you man (women) of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
I am not saying this- God’s word is saying this!
I think we will continue this next week as we look at being the body of Christ and the bride of Christ- church folks
Prayer-
