GOD IS TURNING THE CHURCH

[Sue J Love]

i am not judging. i am sharing the word of God, which says do not neglect meeting together.
this message forum is good. but it is not the same thing as meeting in person and speaking face to face with other human beings.
if w want to be effective at ministering to the lost and sharing God's word, we need to be around people constantly so we know how to communicate to them.
also, the fellowship allows for iron to sharpen iron, and love to build between believers.
fellowship is very important for so many reasons.

Taylor, When the Bible speaks of not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, it is speaking of the pure body of Christ meeting together in the name of the Lord Jesus. In his name means in his power, according to his will and purposes, and according to the truths of his holy word. It is a meeting of the body of Christ, which is a living organism, not an organization of human origin and human thinking and reasoning, and it is definitely not a corporation (business) of humans run just like any other human-based business. So, just because a building is called a church, it does not make it a church. Just because an organization or a corporation, under the Federal Government of the USA, in this case, calls itself the church, it does not make it a church. The church may be among the people meeting there, but the assembling that scripture calls for is in the name of Jesus, with him as the head - not man or the government as the head. The institutional church is living in spiritual adultery because it has partnered with both the government, which is not godly, and with humans and their marketing schemes and business plans for how to grow God's church, using worldly methods to reach worldly people with a worldly gospel. Jesus said we are to come out of her so that we do not share in her sins, for her sins are piled high (See Rev. 18:4-5).

I have gone to these institutional churches, and most of them have kicked me out or have encouraged me to leave, and they have even offered to help me find another place where I would be a "better fit," because I didn't fit in with their marketing schemes. I didn't go along with their "let's not offend anyone with the true gospel," and so I stood out like a sore thumb. I was not loud and obnoxious. I was quiet and submissive, but if they even heard of the ministry God has given me they didn't want me. They were warned about people like me - people with strong convictions. It doesn't matter that the scriptures teach that we are to not say to any part of the body "we don't need you." The people who trained them told them I needed to go, and they needed to target the world, instead. The church has become so much like the world that it is hardly distinguishable between the church and the world anymore. I am certain there are exceptions, but I have not seen them, and I have been to a lot of churches over the years. I have been in church 65 years, well except for the past several years I have left the institutional "Babylon" church out of obedience to my Lord, because it is not Christ's church, though some of the true church may meet with them.

They would allow me to come, I know, but not "me," you see. They would allow my physical body to be present as long as I compromised my faith and convictions and as long as I conformed to the ways of man and did not hold to the teachings of Christ and of his apostles. They would allow me to be there as long as I would become like them, and I would deny my Lord and his calling upon my life, and his word and what it teaches. They would allow me to be present but they would never include me in the body, not "me" with the giftings God has given me, and not with the body part God has assigned me. So, God gives greater honor to the body parts that lack it so there is no division in the body, you see. He makes places for us, and he uses us when they discard us and they throw us away like we are rubbish. Paul talked about this you know.

I would love to meet with the body of Christ face-to-face. My heart hungers for that. Some days I just break down weeping because I miss the church, but not the institutional church of human origin run just like a business and which steps on people to get to the top and which discards God's true servants and which caters to the world of sin. I miss the body of Christ. If I knew a place in my community where the body is meeting in the name (character and will) of Jesus Christ I would run to meet with them, but alas I know of nowhere this is taking place. So, for now, this is where I meet with the body, and this is where I receive encouragement sometimes, but also rejection, too. I know rejection big time! God called me nearly 11 years ago to write what God gives me to write and to give it to a runner to run with it (see Hab. 2). He told me then that the church was in a crisis of supremacy of Christ and that it was barely distinguishable between the church and the world anymore. He called me to call the church to repentance, and to point out where the church is straying far from God, and to warn of judgment to come. Yet, he also promised me that revival will come, too, and so I hold on to that hope. I believe the prophets of old prophesied of such a revival.

This thread has been a wonderful encouragement to me. Sometimes I feel like I am all alone in the world, though I know I am not, but I am often alone in my community, so it is wonderful to read and to hear others for whom God has given a similar calling and passion for the church of today. So, thank you all!

No Less / An Original Work / March 19, 2012

I can do no less than praise You,
Lord, for all You’ve done for me.
You died for my sins to save me,
So I would be set free.
I adore You! Lord, I praise You!
Jesus, Savior, King of kings!
You provided my redemption.
Your grace has pardoned me.

I can do no less than serve You.
Lord, Your witness I would be,
Telling others of Your love,
And why You died on that tree.
Tell of how You gave of Your life,
So from sin we’d be set free,
So we could worship You forever,
And live eternally.

I can do no less than love You,
Lord, for You have first loved me.
You gave of Your life so willing,
Because You cared for me.
Turn from my sin! Obey freely!
Live for You each passing day.
Read Your word, and follow Your lead,
Lord, as I humbly pray.

http://originalworks.info/no-less/

 

[TaylorDonBarret]

I dont know what to say. Two people now who say they can't find a decent, biblical church. Two people who are just so anointed of God that all the people at their local churches just cant stand them. I dont know if we have the two witnesses from the book of revelation here, one locatedin Sodom and the other located in Gomorrah. Both are so holy and so biblical and so spirit led that they cant find a single church which welcomes them.

Are yall kidding me? Heres a hint for you... if you cant find a single church in your area, most likely the churches in your area aren't the problem.. you are.

But you will probably compare yourself to JESUS and say that the world must hate you and consider yourselves persecuted and victimized because I have the tenacity to offer you a rebuke.

What you need to realize is there is no perfect Christian and there is no perfect church. You are just as rotten and unbiblical as other Christians are. You need to humble yourselves, enter a church with love, and fellowship with your imperfect brethren. There is absolutely no reason for you two to have the experiences your having. Learn to socialize and be friends in a biblical manner.

 

[rag4aCrown]

No one is good; not one. Now, let's go sit on our pew in our suits and proper attire to appear to one another's face, then let's go talk against them because we are holier than they are; NO thanks, I am good walking with the Lord; just as He was with God.
Jesus went in and told them of their hypocrisy and they hated Him for it, they sought how they might kill Him, paid His own disciple to betray Him, and hang Him on a cross. That is the truth. The way is to walk in His footsteps. His life is my life; just as He did, so have I been chosen to do. Whether one likes it or not is not my call; it is for me to be obedient to God. With God there is no respector of persons. And, God has no respector of persons.
Lord have mercy upon us all.

 

[Sue J Love]

I dont know what to say. Two people now who say they can't find a decent, biblical church. Two people who are just so anointed of God that all the people at their local churches just cant stand them. I dont know if we have the two witnesses from the book of revelation here, one locatedin Sodom and the other located in Gomorrah. Both are so holy and so biblical and so spirit led that they cant find a single church which welcomes them.

Are yall kidding me? Heres a hint for you... if you cant find a single church in your area, most likely the churches in your area aren't the problem.. you are.

But you will probably compare yourself to JESUS and say that the world must hate you and consider yourselves persecuted and victimized because I have the tenacity to offer you a rebuke.

What you need to realize is there is no perfect Christian and there is no perfect church. You are just as rotten and unbiblical as other Christians are. You need to humble yourselves, enter a church with love, and fellowship with your imperfect brethren. There is absolutely no reason for you two to have the experiences your having. Learn to socialize and be friends in a biblical manner.

There is no one good, no, not one. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have each turned our own way, but the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. By his stripes we are healed. Amen!

Jesus said we would be hated and persecuted as he was hated and persecuted. Who is it that hated him and persecuted him the most? It was the leaders of the Jewish faith, the leaders of the children of God. In today's world, that would be equivalent to the leaders in the church. So, if Jesus said we would be hated and persecuted as he was, it stands to reason our greatest opponents would be church leadership, as well, and many of those who follow these false shepherds of the people. Remember that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light to deceive even the elect, if that were possible. We live in perilous times. The church in the west has become one with the world, for the most part. She could easily be compared to the church of Laodicea. And, God is about to spit her out of his mouth.

As well, look at all the warnings in the New Testament concerning false teachers and false teaching and a time when people will not put up with sound doctrine but will gather around them teachers who will tell them what their itching ears want to hear. We live in such a time as this. Look at the warnings in scripture against not falling for these master manipulators who lead the church to be tossed by the waves of various teachings by men in their deceitful scheming. Look at where it warns about the church putting up easily enough with such as these, and all the calls to come out of the world and to be separate. Read the letters to the church in Revelation. They speak to the church today.

Also, know that the church is not an organization or a corporation of humans, but it is a living organism with Christ as her head. So, even though these organizations call themselves "church," they are not the church. Most of them are worldly and are given over to the flesh, because they are led by humans, not by the Spirit of God. I will meet with the church, but I don't know where the church is meeting in my area apart from these institutions of men, which are not the church. Most of these institutions are patterned after the world and they market the church to the world, and try to attract the world to their meetings, and so they dilute the gospel and turn the Lord's church into a marketplace, and he is ready to cleanse his temple. It is not the church if the meetings are about bringing in the world and making the meetings acceptable and pleasing to the world so the world will feel at home in their churches. Where is the body working together in all that? It isn't, because the Spirit has been pushed out of most of these churches and ungodly men have been permitted to lead the church spiritually down hill to their destruction.

Remember: "Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea." Rev. 12:17

And, "Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years." Rev. 20:4

And, "Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus." Rev. 14:12

 

[Wired 4 Fishen]

I dont know what to say. Two people now who say they can't find a decent, biblical church. Two people who are just so anointed of God that all the people at their local churches just cant stand them. I dont know if we have the two witnesses from the book of revelation here, one locatedin Sodom and the other located in Gomorrah. Both are so holy and so biblical and so spirit led that they cant find a single church which welcomes them.

Are yall kidding me? Heres a hint for you... if you cant find a single church in your area, most likely the churches in your area aren't the problem.. you are.

But you will probably compare yourself to JESUS and say that the world must hate you and consider yourselves persecuted and victimized because I have the tenacity to offer you a rebuke.

What you need to realize is there is no perfect Christian and there is no perfect church. You are just as rotten and unbiblical as other Christians are. You need to humble yourselves, enter a church with love, and fellowship with your imperfect brethren. There is absolutely no reason for you two to have the experiences your having. Learn to socialize and be friends in a biblical manner.

Taylor are you joking here ? You simply having a bad day and decided to spew out of your mouth insults and tag a little word with it ?
Not every area has a church on the corner and even if there was does not mean it is a real House of God. I know folks who got aksed to leave because they confessed they were the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and the Blessing of the Lord was upon them.
Before they truly were born again or realy deeply spirit filled they were excepted just as every one else. See the picture here?
Taylor I might add that a seeking of God in learning to walk in Love might be very benificial to you as well. It

Have a blessed and PEACEFUL NIGHT BRO,
Jim

 

[Cturtle]

I dont know what to say. Two people now who say they can't find a decent, biblical church. Two people who are just so anointed of God that all the people at their local churches just cant stand them. I dont know if we have the two witnesses from the book of revelation here, one locatedin Sodom and the other located in Gomorrah. Both are so holy and so biblical and so spirit led that they cant find a single church which welcomes them.

Are yall kidding me? Heres a hint for you... if you cant find a single church in your area, most likely the churches in your area aren't the problem.. you are.

But you will probably compare yourself to JESUS and say that the world must hate you and consider yourselves persecuted and victimized because I have the tenacity to offer you a rebuke.

What you need to realize is there is no perfect Christian and there is no perfect church. You are just as rotten and unbiblical as other Christians are. You need to humble yourselves, enter a church with love, and fellowship with your imperfect brethren. There is absolutely no reason for you two to have the experiences your having. Learn to socialize and be friends in a biblical manner.

May the Lord richly bless you Taylor with much wisdom. I pray as you grow in your walk with Christ, you will realize that God works in many ways, and with many different people. There are many people who will never step foot in a conventional church. And God is raising up many to go out into the highways and by ways to take the gospel and Love of Jesus to those who are blinded.

It breaks my heart to see you put God and His people in such a box....saying that it just has to be this way or that way. Everyone if us has been called to do whatever God desires and has prepared for us to do. Sometimes it is Not in a conventional mannor, and if you really honestly don't think that God cannot put people in our paths to sharpen us or correct us or what have you, then you are not trusting God to be big enough to teach His people. Those who have and are devoting their lives (every day) to caring for the people who others throw away, are not called to be in a three piece suit, talking about how sister Sally's potato salad was just divine. No they are in the trenches....walking people out of prostitution, or homosexuallity, or drug abuse, or gang banging or whatever. They are the ones who are on the front lines taking a beating from very well meaning Christians, who think their way is the best.

So yes in the past few posts that you have made to your elders in the faith (for i can assure you that we are all older than you are).....you have judged, and tried to say that we have to fit your type of thinking. Might be time to remember the Loving, all knowing, gracious God that WE ALL serve. and humble yourself, looking at the bigger picture. Time to stop rebuking and thinking you are better than we are, and open up your heart to what God is trying to say. Be teachable instead of self righteous. You are not God, so let God be God.

I do pray that God uses you mightily one day. Your testimony could be used to bring a lot of people to Christ. You just need some developing. God is working on us all, none of us are perfect. That title belongs to the Savior.

Blessings to you!

 

[TaylorDonBarret]

"let us not neglect meeting together"

thats the word of God, thats not Taylor speakling, thats God speaking.

if one of you is a full time evangelist living on the streets preaching all day everyday, full committed to the Lord and living every second as if its your last, telling every single person you meet about Jesus, without any exceptions whatsoever, then sure you get a pass.

but i guarantee you that none of you meet that descriptiton. you people sit at home on the computer for hours at a time, spend leisure time fulfilling your own passions and hobbies, and spend your weekends enjoying your free time in whatever way you see fit. and you rationalize your absence from church by proclaiming that you are too righteous for the unholy churches in your area, that they are the problem.. not you.

it is a very rare city in the USA that does not have a single biblical church open on sundays for fellowship i say with certainty that most of you can easily find a decent church in your area. i say with certainty that it is not the churches in your area that are the problem, but it is you.

how do i know? because i was just like you. i thought i didnt need to go to church. i thought all the churches in the area were corrupt and preaching false gospels, worldly gospels, unbiblical gospels. that the churches were filled with sinners. and every time i went to a church, all i could do was see all the errors in everyhthing they did, the messages they preached, the way the people acted, it was all wrong. me, i have real faith, real repentance, the real Spirit of God living inside of me. these heathens and there worldly churches.... i will stay at home and read my bible and be better then all of them.

but thats not right.

"do not neglect meeting together"

thats God talking to you right now, not me. stop listening to the voices in your head that you falsely assume are God's words, and start taking HIS WORD seriously.

you wonder why people react negatively to you when you go into a church proclaiming "I am the righteousness of God!!!" and "I have been sent here from God with a message to you!!!!". LMAO. yall have got to be kidding me. you really, desperately need to be socialized into the church community. for all your faith you have no grace.

 

[Cturtle]

"let us not neglect meeting together"

thats the word of God, thats not Taylor speakling, thats God speaking.

if one of you is a full time evangelist living on the streets preaching all day everyday, full committed to the Lord and living every second as if its your last, telling every single person you meet about Jesus, without any exceptions whatsoever, then sure you get a pass.

but i guarantee you that none of you meet that descriptiton. you people sit at home on the computer for hours at a time, spend leisure time fulfilling your own passions and hobbies, and spend your weekends enjoying your free time in whatever way you see fit. and you rationalize your absence from church by proclaiming that you are too righteous for the unholy churches in your area, that they are the problem.. not you.

it is a very rare city in the USA that does not have a single biblical church open on sundays for fellowship i say with certainty that most of you can easily find a decent church in your area. i say with certainty that it is not the churches in your area that are the problem, but it is you.

how do i know? because i was just like you. i thought i didnt need to go to church. i thought all the churches in the area were corrupt and preaching false gospels, worldly gospels, unbiblical gospels. that the churches were filled with sinners. and every time i went to a church, all i could do was see all the errors in everyhthing they did, the messages they preached, the way the people acted, it was all wrong. me, i have real faith, real repentance, the real Spirit of God living inside of me. these heathens and there worldly churches.... i will stay at home and read my bible and be better then all of them.

but thats not right.

"do not neglect meeting together"

thats God talking to you right now, not me. stop listening to the voices in your head that you falsely assume are God's words, and start taking HIS WORD seriously.

you wonder why people react negatively to you when you go into a church proclaiming "I am the righteousness of God!!!" and "I have been sent here from God with a message to you!!!!". LMAO. yall have got to be kidding me. you really, desperately need to be socialized into the church community. for all your faith you have no grace.

You know none of us...but you think that we must be just like you were. Not one of us said we were better than anyone. Wow what a wonderful judgement call you have made. All of us are not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, we just choose a different way. Where is the lack of grace?
Blessings to you Taylor! May the Lord richly bless you with peace and joy!

 

[Wired 4 Fishen]

"let us not neglect meeting together"

thats the word of God, thats not Taylor speakling, thats God speaking.

if one of you is a full time evangelist living on the streets preaching all day everyday, full committed to the Lord and living every second as if its your last, telling every single person you meet about Jesus, without any exceptions whatsoever, then sure you get a pass.

but i guarantee you that none of you meet that descriptiton. you people sit at home on the computer for hours at a time, spend leisure time fulfilling your own passions and hobbies, and spend your weekends enjoying your free time in whatever way you see fit. and you rationalize your absence from church by proclaiming that you are too righteous for the unholy churches in your area, that they are the problem.. not you.

it is a very rare city in the USA that does not have a single biblical church open on sundays for fellowship i say with certainty that most of you can easily find a decent church in your area. i say with certainty that it is not the churches in your area that are the problem, but it is you.

how do i know? because i was just like you. i thought i didnt need to go to church. i thought all the churches in the area were corrupt and preaching false gospels, worldly gospels, unbiblical gospels. that the churches were filled with sinners. and every time i went to a church, all i could do was see all the errors in everyhthing they did, the messages they preached, the way the people acted, it was all wrong. me, i have real faith, real repentance, the real Spirit of God living inside of me. these heathens and there worldly churches.... i will stay at home and read my bible and be better then all of them.

but thats not right.

"do not neglect meeting together"

thats God talking to you right now, not me. stop listening to the voices in your head that you falsely assume are God's words, and start taking HIS WORD seriously.
you wonder why people react negatively to you when you go into a church proclaiming "I am the righteousness of God!!!" and "I have been sent here from God with a message to you!!!!". LMAO. yall have got to be kidding me. you really, desperately need to be socialized into the church community. for all your faith you have no grace.

See there is a huge problem in this reply.
First you are judging things you simply can not know about.
Second...........we are not just to see a church and walk in and say Church I am home. We need to pray and seek God for direction in order to be in the church He desires us to be in. That is where you wilol find His grace and blessing and provision and your assignment.

This free pass you speak of........it does not exist brother............
Now then this statement that you made right here.........(((( you wonder why people react negatively to you when you go into a church proclaiming "I am the righteousness of God!!!" and "I have been sent here from God with a message to you!!!!". LMAO. yall have got to be kidding me. you really, desperately need to be socialized into the church community. for all your faith you have no grace)))

Nice add on to several individual syatements making them say what they never said. Your getting quite good at that but never the less it does not help you any.
For all your faith you have no grace....So what did you take over and become God and removed my Grace ?

When people just get into a church because they beleive God says YOU better or else and go because they better be socialized into a church comunity they do not get builtup in His word. They gain no real spiritual knowledge and speak foolishness.
The church I go to I go expecting to be fed by God. I go expecting God. Not all churches meet this requirement and this is why so many churches have not seen God moving in them.

May I suggest that you pray about getting connected some place where you can be fed spiritually and not so much socially. I beleive it will change your life for the better big time.
Taylor I hold nothing against you and have no aught against you and I love you my brother in Christ.
I simply think you need to get more rooted in Christ Brother.......
Blessings
Jim

 

[TaylorDonBarret]

I attend several churches in my area. Not only do I attend several churches in my area, but I also attend small groups during the week, and I post on TalkJesus almost daily, and I am actively engaged in several different online ministries, and I do street evangelism on my own, and I study the word on depth on a daily basis, and i am firmly grounded in Christ who has worked tremendous, undeniable, miraculous feats of power in my life. I have not only met Christ, been born again, witnessed real supernatural miracles, cast out real demons, faced off with demons in real life, had real life supernatural encounters with Angels, I have walked with God for quite some time now.

If i am boasting, it is only about what the Lord has done for me through His grace.

I was like you guys... always seeking my own way. Thinking that i could make my own path, and be seperate from the church. If the church wasnt biblical enough for me, then i would leave mid service. But what happened? I was disobeying God. I was neglecting meeting together. And although I was growing in faith, in knowledge of God, i was having lots of revelations from God; I was still not maturing in my faith. Why? Faith in about fellowship. Fellowship with God and fellowship with man. Our faith is absolutely worthless if we cannot express it, share it, and help others to attain it. We do none of those things, we remain impotent in things that matter to the body of Christ, if we remain out of fellowship and neglect meeting together. We do things like speak in old english because we only know the king james version of the bible and we have no experience sharing our faith with people in real life; and we consider ourselves victimized, judged, and persecuted when someone has a disagreement with us. and we rationalize our anti-social, prideful, self-righteous, and disobedient ways because we think everyone else doesnt know God like we know God.

"let us not neglect meeting together"

 

[Wired 4 Fishen]

I attend several churches in my area. Not only do I attend several churches in my area, but I also attend small groups during the week, and I post on TalkJesus almost daily, and I am actively engaged in several different online ministries, and I do street evangelism on my own, and I study the word on depth on a daily basis, and i am firmly grounded in Christ who has worked tremendous, undeniable, miraculous feats of power in my life. I have not only met Christ, been born again, witnessed real supernatural miracles, cast out real demons, faced off with demons in real life, had real life supernatural encounters with Angels, I have walked with God for quite some time now.

If i am boasting, it is only about what the Lord has done for me through His grace.

I was like you guys... always seeking my own way. Thinking that i could make my own path, and be seperate from the church. If the church wasnt biblical enough for me, then i would leave mid service. But what happened? I was disobeying God. I was neglecting meeting together. And although I was growing in faith, in knowledge of God, i was having lots of revelations from God; I was still not maturing in my faith. Why? Faith in about fellowship. Fellowship with God and fellowship with man. Our faith is absolutely worthless if we cannot express it, share it, and help others to attain it. We do none of those things, we remain impotent in things that matter to the body of Christ, if we remain out of fellowship and neglect meeting together. We do things like speak in old english because we only know the king james version of the bible and we have no experience sharing our faith with people in real life; and we consider ourselves victimized, judged, and persecuted when someone has a disagreement with us. and we rationalize our anti-social, prideful, self-righteous, and disobedient ways because we think everyone else doesnt know God like we know God.

"let us not neglect meeting together"

Brother do you write books too ? I mean you sure have a knack for twisting things said...

 

[Cturtle]

I attend several churches in my area. Not only do I attend several churches in my area, but I also attend small groups during the week, and I post on TalkJesus almost daily, and I am actively engaged in several different online ministries, and I do street evangelism on my own, and I study the word on depth on a daily basis, and i am firmly grounded in Christ who has worked tremendous, undeniable, miraculous feats of power in my life. I have not only met Christ, been born again, witnessed real supernatural miracles, cast out real demons, faced off with demons in real life, had real life supernatural encounters with Angels, I have walked with God for quite some time now.

If i am boasting, it is only about what the Lord has done for me through His grace.

I was like you guys... always seeking my own way. Thinking that i could make my own path, and be seperate from the church. If the church wasnt biblical enough for me, then i would leave mid service. But what happened? I was disobeying God. I was neglecting meeting together. And although I was growing in faith, in knowledge of God, i was having lots of revelations from God; I was still not maturing in my faith. Why? Faith in about fellowship. Fellowship with God and fellowship with man. Our faith is absolutely worthless if we cannot express it, share it, and help others to attain it. We do none of those things, we remain impotent in things that matter to the body of Christ, if we remain out of fellowship and neglect meeting together. We do things like speak in old english because we only know the king james version of the bible and we have no experience sharing our faith with people in real life; and we consider ourselves victimized, judged, and persecuted when someone has a disagreement with us. and we rationalize our anti-social, prideful, self-righteous, and disobedient ways because we think everyone else doesnt know God like we know God.

"let us not neglect meeting together"

Brother, we are truly blessed that you are doing the things that God has called you to do! I see that your heart is desiring that we are all pleasing in God's eyes.

But why can you not see that those things are not happening in our lives too? Why do you assume that our lives are like yours was? Should we have to write you a list of all of the things that we do, that God has called us to do....for you to believe that we are in God's plan for our lives? It really saddens me to read your judgements of people who are apart of the body. Especially when you don't know any of us. And we happen to speak or dress or look or think differently than you. Do not judge others lest you be judged Matthew 7:1-2

Blessings of grace and love be yours in abundance!

 

[Sue J Love]

"let us not neglect meeting together"

thats the word of God, thats not Taylor speakling, thats God speaking.

if one of you is a full time evangelist living on the streets preaching all day everyday, full committed to the Lord and living every second as if its your last, telling every single person you meet about Jesus, without any exceptions whatsoever, then sure you get a pass.

but i guarantee you that none of you meet that descriptiton. you people sit at home on the computer for hours at a time, spend leisure time fulfilling your own passions and hobbies, and spend your weekends enjoying your free time in whatever way you see fit. and you rationalize your absence from church by proclaiming that you are too righteous for the unholy churches in your area, that they are the problem.. not you.

it is a very rare city in the USA that does not have a single biblical church open on sundays for fellowship i say with certainty that most of you can easily find a decent church in your area. i say with certainty that it is not the churches in your area that are the problem, but it is you.

how do i know? because i was just like you. i thought i didnt need to go to church. i thought all the churches in the area were corrupt and preaching false gospels, worldly gospels, unbiblical gospels. that the churches were filled with sinners. and every time i went to a church, all i could do was see all the errors in everyhthing they did, the messages they preached, the way the people acted, it was all wrong. me, i have real faith, real repentance, the real Spirit of God living inside of me. these heathens and there worldly churches.... i will stay at home and read my bible and be better then all of them.

but thats not right.

"do not neglect meeting together"

thats God talking to you right now, not me. stop listening to the voices in your head that you falsely assume are God's words, and start taking HIS WORD seriously.

you wonder why people react negatively to you when you go into a church proclaiming "I am the righteousness of God!!!" and "I have been sent here from God with a message to you!!!!". LMAO. yall have got to be kidding me. you really, desperately need to be socialized into the church community. for all your faith you have no grace.

2 Corinthians 10:1-5, 7, 12: "By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold” toward you when away! I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ… You are judging by appearances. If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do. We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise."

Be careful here, because it appears to me that you are judging us by yourself, and that is not wise. You were not just like me, and I am not like you. I am 65 years old, have been a believer in Jesus since I was a small child, and have been in Christian ministry since I was a teenager, but also had some wilderness years where I struggled with my faith. So, I was in the institutional church from birth up until a few years ago when God called me to "come out of her" so that I did not "share in any of her sins." I am married (nearly 43 years), raised 4 children, and now have 12 grandchildren. I spend my days in the Word and in teaching the Word, encouraging and strengthening the body of Christ in the faith, and I do this most every day, even on weekends, and even on vacations, because this is what God has called me to do, and I take that calling and his Word VERY SERIOUSLY. I also take care of my home and my family and spend time with my husband, kids and grandkids. We don't have a TV, so we don't spend time sitting and being entertained by a bunch of junk.

I will give you a few examples of times when I have been asked to leave a church. One: Our church was having a time of revival. My husband and I had a ministry to college students out of our home. We had about 25-30 college-age adults who came to our home every Sunday evening for over 7 years for Bible study. We fed them dinner every Sunday night, too, provided ministry opportunities for all of them, involved them in community service, started several Christian coffee houses with them, etc. The revival services had meetings for people of all ages except for college students, so we asked if we could do something with the college students during that time. They agreed. So, we took our ministry to the church and ministered to the college students there, which extended out for maybe 6 months. We provided a praise band and a time of singing worship songs, food and fellowship, a time of Bible study and prayer. My husband taught the word. I worked with the organizing of it all. The students all had ministries to do. We worked as a team. They wanted us to have a logo, so we created a logo - one we felt the Lord had given to us. It pictured the cross of Christ empty, because he had risen, and that space available for us to come and be crucified with Christ. They rejected the logo - said it did not represent what their church was about, and asked us to picture an empty coke can as the "space available" (the name of our ministry), instead. We appealed to them to change their minds, based upon the Word of God, but they insisted that we make another logo, so we did. We submitted to their leadership, used a non-descript logo for the ministry, and continued. But, God removed his blessing, I believe, because they had not just rejected a logo. They had rejected the message of the cross. Attendance began to drop off after that, but we still kept going. Then, the head deacon talked with us one week. He said the church leadership did not accept us and our ministry, so he thought it would be better if we left. What did we do wrong? Nothing! We submitted to them. But, we didn't fit with their business plan, so we were kicked to the curb. We took the ministry back home, and immediately attendance doubled and tripled.

So, we went to another church, and we joined the college ministry with that church in a sort of partnership with them. We still had the leadership over the ministry, but we used their facilities, and it provided a college ministry for their college-age students. Again, we provided a praise band, food, ministry opportunities, Bible study, prayer and fellowship for the college-age adults. The ministry began to grow during this time. The partnership with the church was going well. We were at the point of almost turning the ministry over to the church, and fully coming under their authority, when the pastor asked me privately one day if I felt our praise band would "draw in large crowds of people." I knew what he was asking. The thing is, when we met with this church leadership, we spent a great deal of time with them explaining to them our calling, passion, etc. for the hurting, the lonely, the outcasts, etc. We wanted to provide a place for them where they could feel accepted, valued, needed and wanted. He knew this. But, then he went on. What he wanted to do was to replace our praise band, which was giving ministry opportunity to many young adults, with another praise band which would "draw in large crowds of people." I told him I would take this to our leadership. We arranged to then have a meeting of our leadership with him. At the meeting he never denied he had that conversation with me nor did he ever deny that that he said that, but he did the non-denial denial. He said "I would never do that." So, I asked him what he meant by what he asked me if "he would never do that." He skirted around my question and still gave me the same response. Then one day I was required to meet with the church elders, but as a prerequisite to this meeting they required that I admit I lied about what the pastor said to me. I could not lie! I asked them to please remove that prerequisite to their meeting. They would not, so I could not go to their meeting, because I would not tell a lie. So, they put me on church discipline, and removed me from ministry within their church. So, we picked up our ministry and took it back home.

So, we went to another church. We got involved in their Bible studies. I was enjoying sweet fellowship with the ladies' Bible study. All was going well there, but not in the "worship" services. There we were bombarded with movie clips from movies which had sexual situations in them, we were confronted with a woman on stage dressed seductively singing seductively, swaying her hips back and forth seductively, and with a diluted gospel, emotional manipulations of the people, etc. We spoke privately with the pastor about some of our concerns. He was ok with what they were doing. He didn't intend to change. He spoke of "staying in your own lane," i.e. minding our own business. We had to leave the "worship" services because it was putting stuff in our minds we did not want there. We continued with the Bible studies. I learned of a situation that was bad. I will not discuss the details here. I talked with some of the ladies about it privately, asking them to please pray about what their response should be. I then heard from the pastor. Now I was banned from coming on the church property because I had talked with some of the ladies, asking them to pray about this situation, and to respond as God would prompt them to respond. They already knew of the situation, I was just asking them to consider what the word teaches and to ask the Lord to show them what their response should be. Evidently that was not ok.

There were others, too. In the situation I spoke of where the pastor said he was warned about people like me - people with strong convictions - I did nothing wrong. There was something he had said in a sermon that concerned me. I wrote him privately. I believe I copied my husband on the communication, which is my habit of doing when talking with a male, and I shared with him some of my concerns. He took offense. He told me he was to be God's voice to me and that I was to just sit and listen to him and let him be God's voice to me. And, that is when he told me that the people who trained him told him to avoid people with strong convictions. Where is it a sin to have strong convictions, especially if they are Biblical convictions? He was following man instead of following God's word. He suggested I go someplace else and he would help me find another place which would be a 'better fit.' This is what they are trained to do. My husband and I went through church planters training, so we know some of the stuff being taught these pastors. We were taught to use "needy" people to get our ministries up and running, and then to discard them once we got going because they would drag us down. Wow! You would not believe some of the stuff these pastors are being taught. It is all the same stuff that comes from marketing big businesses. Not good!

 

[Fragrant Grace]

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I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Ephesians 4:1-6

 

[Brighthouse]

From all I have read, it appears that many are looking for the Lord to bring great wrath unto the Church,we do want to remember that the Church starts with each one of us who go to the gathering. And we do want to remember the very first Church talked about, is Ephesus in Revelation,and like many of us the Lord knows of ones good deeds and how we cannot tolerate evil men,and test those who call themselves Apostles( as well as preachers!)

But from those who look to bring the wrath of God down on others, many of themselves have forgot something so very important in the Church!! ( rev 2:4-5!!!!!!) " But I have this against you( personal!!!!) to each member who has become this way, YOU have left your first love! ( many forget why Jesus came to us in the first place,before Jesus there was wrath such as spoken here in 2 Kings 1:12!!!)

Many are looking for this,when they really should be an example of this!(Luke 9:54-56!!!) VERSE 56!!!! Does the Lord require us to judge another? Or like Philip in acts 8:9-25 do we ourselves both show love and preach the gospel of grace( gal 1:6-10) and let the Lord take care of the rest? God has never needed anyone to complete his wrath and anger upon anyone,but he does require his people to follow after him, in his love and truth, and yes grace!( john 1:14) Rev 2:5 "Therefore REMEMBER from where YOU HAVE FALLEN,and repent and DO the deeds you did at first;or else I am coming to YOU and will remove YOUR LAMP-STAND out of its place------UNLESS YOU REPENT!!!

This I myself consider greatly when I get mad at others who are suppose to be following instead of judging. Because I remember falling myself due to my anger for others!!! Please do not make the same mistake I have! It costs me years of growth,and I was myself a slave because I would only look to remain a child!!( gal 4:1) and 1 cor 14:20. We are no longer children in our thinking!!( 1 cor 13:11) let us all mature. For we all see through a mirror dimly( verse 12) Since this is true we are to abide in three things!!!verse 13!! But the greatest!!! of these is???? LOVE!!!!( 1 cor 13:4-8!!) By following Jesus love, we prove to be HIS disciples!!( john 13:34-35) It is by this brothers and sister the peace of God is not only received,but also abides in!!( Phil 4:7-9!!)

 

[Brighthouse]

This of course was not meant as a rebuke to anyone here!!! It was meant in love for us all to consider our own log in our own eye before we look to remove another's speck .( matt 7:1-5)

 

[Fragrant Grace]

This thread centres on 'I' and 'me'
It graduates to become quite a pompous attack on others

Whilst most of us probably sit in the comfort of our homes typing sometimes harsh and often self glorifying messages to each other......perhaps take a moment to think of the real suffering that persecuted saints go through in countries where to preach the gospel is a real danger. Where when they stand up for the Lord their very lives are at risk.

Take some time to pray for these dear brothers and sisters who labour quietly and fervently for the Lord bringing glory to His name alone


Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Philippians 2:3-4

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 6:1

But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
Galatians 6:14

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