The Bible tells us to "Test everything: hold fast what is good" (1 Thess 5:21)
Faithful church attendance is extremely important to many professing Christians. So much so that regularly attending a Sunday church service is commonly viewed as the number one trait of a good Christian. But does the Bible actually tell us to “go to church”? And do the services we’re encouraged to attend actually look like what the Bible reveals about God’s people meeting together?
Continue reading “Does The Bible Tell Us To “Go To Church”?”
If we want to accurately represent Jesus, then our message must be consistent with his message. If we claim to be following Jesus, we can’t be proclaiming something different than he proclaimed. It’s extremely important that we clearly understand what Jesus preached and that we are dedicated to proclaiming the same message.
It’s important to understand that we’re not addressing the question, “Have you quit sinning?”. Keeping track of how long it’s been since you last sinned leads to self-focus and a preoccupation with your personal performance. It’s an unhealthy focus and it doesn’t accomplish God’s purposes in our life.
The question we need to answer, is “Have I been set free from the power of sin?”. This will lead us to focus on God Himself, to examine what His word declares about who we are in Christ and what God has accomplished for us through His great salvation.
God often waits till things are glaringly impossible before he works his purposes. Then, when he works, it’s undeniable that what happens is the work of God and not the work of man.
Leadership is about people leading people. Discipleship is about people following Christ. These are distinctly different things. The goal of leadership is to organize and direct people so they can be utilized as a resource. The goal of discipleship is for people to grow into the fullness of who they are in Christ. The Bible places a strong emphasis on discipleship. On leadership… not so much.
The Bible tells us, that without exception, all people are lost, meaning that our sin separates us from a holy God 1. But the Bible also proclaims that the lost can be saved and restored to right relationship with God. Since it’s dealing with man’s eternal state, the Bible provides a lot of information regarding salvation. Yet, it’s scary how some people pick and choose among the scriptures and teach things about salvation that are not consistent with the gospel that God proclaims in His word.
If we can’t clearly communicate God’s plan of salvation for the lost, then nothing else we’re saying or doing has merit. At stake are people’s eternal destinies, so we must get this right.
When reading through the New Testament it jumps out how passionately the early church engaged in prayer and teaching the word. In the book of Acts, it says they devoted themselves to teaching and to prayer. The word devoted means to persevere, to be constantly diligent and steadfastly attentive to. Prayer and teaching weren’t things they occasionally squeezed in among a variety of other activities. Prayer and teaching were front and center, and they constantly engaged in these spiritual activities.
While visiting the temple in Jerusalem, Jesus’ disciples pointed out how grand the buildings of the temple were, and Jesus responded that there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down (vs 2). Later, the disciples asked him about the destruction of the temple and what would be the signs of the end (vs 3).
While listening to sermons on tithing, I’ve heard preachers say that the way people spend their money is one of the best indicators of their true values, and I believe there’s a lot of truth in this statement. But let’s switch it around and apply this statement to the church instead of the individual. I don’t think anything reveals the true values of the institutional church quite like the way it spends money.
Continue reading “What They’re Not Telling You About Tithing”
Most Christians consider preaching to be a fundamental requirement of the church, and the Sunday morning sermon is commonly revered as the most important event that takes place in the church each week. While it’s clear that the Bible strongly endorses the ministry of God’s word, is the church’s traditional notion of preaching consistent with the way preaching is presented in the Bible?
Test Everything 