The Church of Today

[jje4jesus]

Hey ppl...Im just commenting on the fact that I think im like many other Christian teenagers nowadays that are kind of ashamed and dissappointed with our churches. After this past presidential election, it was evident that many people voted Republican due to religious faith, and it is good to see that there are many Christians out there standing for what they believe, but I see the church on a national level, and all I can see is it diminishing in power and influence in our society, our media and our culture. This is not about telling other people what to believe or what to do with their lives, but its about being active and helping people out who dont know Christ to receive Him and begin to REALLY live a life serving Him. Many people today have CHURCH in their hearts, but not CHRIST; many people treat their faith as going to church every week and being a part of the social club there. That should not be the case at all. If you have the same opinion please let me know. Im trying to find ways to be a better witness, church server and Christian amongst the secular world Im facing through college and the real world. God bless you, I hope to contact many other people through Talk Jesus. I love this site. I pray it grows to serve God's purpose

Juan

 

[Chad]

Juan, there is a song that goes something like "if we are the body, Why arent our hearts reaching, why arent our hand healing." as a part of the body of Christ we each need to do our part. in unity we are very strong. individually we are weak. we need each other more than we realize. Jesus' prayer was for us to be one as he and the father are one. we all need to uplift the "church". bashing the church just belittles it more.

100% true. I certainly agree, although not easy - but true

 

[nanaroo]

"church"

I love this discussion! Church is not a place where we go... Church is not what we do on Sunday morning... *Church is who we are!* Church is the Body of Christ, The Bride, Salt and Light. There are so many expressions of the Body of Christ - in the form of denominations, ministries, Bible study groups. TALK JESUS is C-H-U-R-C-H!!!! We believers gather here to fellowship and teach/learn, to celebrate through testimonies, and to pray for each other. We are church. Hopefully, we are also out in the world being salt and light. As long as we believe the Truth of the gospel and the teaching of the apostles; even minor doctrinal differences should not divide us.

I can look back a couple of decades ago at some of the silly things I believed. I'm certainly glad that God continues to bring revelation through His Word by the Holy Spirit. I am also certainly glad that my brothers and sisters in Christ didn't seperate from me while I was still growing. I came out of a very legalistic background (EVERYTHING was a sin that threatened my salvation). When I got some good teaching on the Truth of the book of Galations - I was free indeed. So, I don't judge someone who isn't walking in that truth quite yet-I understand that we are all at different places in the Lord (and I'll be the first to admit that I haven't "arrived").......BUT WE ARE ALL THE CHURCH. Some of us babes, some of us mature, some of us traditional, some of us unconvetional, some of us quiet, some of us rowdy-just like any family. We are an organism not an organization. We are a living family made up of individuals who are united because of the Blood of the Lamb.

ABUNDANT BLESSINGS!
nanaroo

 

[Memorium]

I just finished reading a wonderful book by Rick Warren called "The Purpose-Driven Church". I agree that the church is losing its influence. People here in Canada mostly confuse church and boredom. I think the first step we have to take is to make church a better place for both unbelievers and believers, WITHOUT contradicting our principles, and it's possible! (The Bible was never meant to be boring!) I urge you to buy and read the Purpose-Driven Church and share it with other Christians. It gives you an excellent idea on how Jesus wanted the church to be.

Peace in Christ ^^v

 

[jje4jesus]

I agree that we ARE a body in the church...each of us have unique gifts and roles as hands, eyes, ears, the nose, nails, hair, skin, lungs, heart, stomach, feet, legs, arms, fingers and toes do. The thing is that seeing the modern day we are living in, so many people are just doing CHURCH as the tradition of just going to that building down the street called God's House, and not treating their OWN house like it was GOD's house. Recently one of the biggest helps for me in my Christian walk has been understanding and constantly reminding myself that ALL I have is God's. My leather jacket, my shoes, my socks, my bed, my house, my car, my eyes, my mouth, my mind and all my body belongs to God. Im not trying to bring down the church, but I believe that trying to increase awareness amongst people to better it and become more concerned for it is what I can do to help the church grow. Im more of a type of person to try to present things as they are, and I try to be as realistic as I can, yet never forgetting "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". I believe that the church (I myself am of the Baptist church) can grow nationwide and change our world eventually to make it a much better place. We need to stick together as a church of course, but never forget to fix what is being done wrong.

 

[Maureen]

So by us all being differant and at differant stages in Christ,
as you say Nanaroo, some quiet, some rowdy, some traditional, some conventional, so therefore we will all praise Jesus differantly would that be right and what your meaning?
As I have been to quite a number of differant
churches and watched with intrigue the God Channel some of
the 'Worshiper's' on it, I used to attend an Evangelical church
who worship differantly from others so is all forms of worship
the same would you say? What about people who fall when
hands are laid upon them, what's your view on that? I have
not been where this has ever happened.

 

[maina]

the church today

with me thou havent been saved for a long time but i have come to believe that the church is a place for whorshipping the Lord and where His people gather to share His word. Its also a tool by which the Lord God ministers unto us what He wants of us.

 

[Maureen]

'We' are the Church, the whole body of Christ, his people,
what a title we hold, were we worship is a building although
on Holy Ground it is his people, us, who are his Church Amen

 

[pappa]

'We' are the Church, the whole body of Christ, his people,
what a title we hold, were we worship is a building although
on Holy Ground it is his people, us, who are his Church Amen

This is true... the Greek word (ecclesia) translated "church" in the english bibles refers more to a body of people with something in common such as our christian faith. The place of worship is merely the location where this body of christians can meet for worship, teaching or whatever.

Personally, I can understand why some young people think the worship services in many churches seems irrelevant. I'm 66 years old and I think it's irrelevant sometimes. I remember when I was a young person ... I thought it was irrelevant then. But then I learned that the people who gather for worship are young people, young families, families with teens, grandparents, retired folks.... and it occurred to me that it would be tough to be relevent to all the people all the time. Make it relevant to young people and you exclude the older folks. Make it relevant to older folks and you exclude younger people.

Maybe it not a question of being relevant.... maybe it's just a question of an individual being able to worship God whether the actual worship service is revelant at the moment or not. I would call that spiritual maturity.

 

[CrossBow]

An open letter to Jesus's Church

An open letter to the Church

The word church is used 77 times in the King James version of the bible. It is translated from the Koinh Greek word, ekklesia (ek-klay-see'-ah); which literally translated means, a calling out.

The word Christian is used twice in the KJV and it is transliterated from the Koinh Greek word

Christianos (khris-tee-an-os') and translated it means, follower of Christ:
It follows then that those who have been “BORN AGAIN” have been called out to follow Jesus. Jesus said, “Ye must be born again” and in the same scripture, “ Flesh is Flesh and Spirit is Spirit. It is spiritually logical to conclude that His Church, (those who are Born Again) are called out of the Flesh to follow Jesus in the Spirit, because it is only in His Spirit that we are able to see or enter His Kingdom.
In John 3 Jesus tells Nicodemus that you must be BORN AGAIN to see or enter the Kingdom. It is possible that after being BORN AGAIN a person would choose not to enter in to the Kingdom. The parable of the talent illustrates that fact. Hiding or burying the talent inside the flesh, ie; not showing or “manifesting” the “Born Again nature” received from God prohibits the fellowship between the “Born Again nature” that resides in others that are part of the body of Christ. Seeing is one activity, and entering in is another.
Seeing Jesus’ Kingdom, “Being Born Again’ is the beginning, to enter in you must be a follower. "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."
Following Jesus is a spiritual journey. The necessity of the new birth is because the natural man is of his own ability unable to “see” or “enter” the Kingdom of God.
The natural man, (the flesh) is absolutely blind to spiritual things and impotent to enter in for the natural man cannot understand, obey, or please God, only Jesus can please God. The incorruptible seed that we received “Christ in us” when we were born again is pleasing to God because we received it from God. It is a spiritual seed, and it did not come from the DUST OF THE GROUND + BREATH OF LIFE = LIVING SOUL CREATED MAN. Man was created by God in Gen 2:7, not born of Gods seed. The created man had one law to obey and could not do it. “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
Following Jesus “being a Christian” is a spiritual journey. We are called out of the flesh not just to be called out. We are called out in order that we would follow. We have received the Spirit of Jesus so we can manifest the Spirit of Jesus and in that revealing, we are Spiritual. Jesus desires His “called out followers” The Church, to be His glory in the earth. He will appear in His Church.
Jesus does not want to see the glory of mans wealth, the glory of mans beauty, or the glory of mans wisdom. He wants to see the revelation of His Spirit in His people. comparing spiritual things with spiritual. I would desire that participation just as the Apostle Paul did. “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, (the flesh) and reaching forth unto those things which are before, (the spirit) I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
This prize is A PERFECTED CHURCH, “till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:” This is the end result of being “called out”.
2004 years later, the called out followers that would be “the perfect man” are hidden in the denominational quagmire that is considered to be the Church by the world. This world church is dedicated to make mans time on earth as comfortable as possible. To solve social ills, more interested in being the “Laodicean” church, accepting the rights of the people as the doctrine they follow instead of the Word of God in them, allowing the spirit of compromise and the law of man to be preached in the assemblies in lieu of the foundational principles of the doctrine of Christ. These “Born Again” people are stuck in the forms and traditions of the “TARBABY” man has created for himself, not unlike the worshippers on Mars Hill who bowed to the altar of the unknown God. They followed after the warm fuzzy feeling of emotional fulfillment for a few hours a week in order to feel good about themselves and to feel good about their sacrifice to the unknown God. It is certainly time to face the truth of Grace. It is not our activity, but Gods activity in us that pleases God
Paul said, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

Paul, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” understood what the truth of “Grace” is and that seeing the “Kingdom” is by “Grace” and entering in to the “Kingdom” is by “Grace”. Grace is the activity of Jesus in you and its revealing in your life.
I would desire only this. I am called to the ministry for only this, whether it happens in my natural life or not. This after all is an eternal participation.

CrossBow ministry

 

[FordSVT]

Juan is not "belittling" anything by asking the question

Juan, what a great topic!!!
After pentacost it seems to me there was no longer a reason to go worship at the temple since a) Christ had been sacrificed and sin attoned for and 2) The Spirit of The Lord now rested among men. You can see this happen in Acts. So from where comes chuch attendance? The New Testament letters to the chuches were letters to the bodies of Christ in that whole city. We were never meant to be this fragmented (look at a list of denominations recognized by the military sometime). Why is my walk weak if I don't go sit for an hour or two per week and listen to 1 man/woman speak (preach) about something that may or may not be relevant to my current experience? Do we all agree that worship isn't only singing songs, be they hymns or choruses? Sure we are exhorted by David to play instruments and dance in worship of Jehovah, but is that all worship is? I think we would agree that worship is action. So if by my actions I am worshiping Christ(Loving the Lord my God with all my heart, and Loving my neighbor as myself), why is my christianity waning if I choose to not attend a local service? Sure, sure, we are also exhorted to not forsake the fellowship of the believers (can someone help me with a reference on that one?), but in no way is that gathering solely occuring in buildings large and small accross the country every Sunday morning. I think meeting with friends and family (sometimes those are the same people) in your home is just as valid as a Willowcreek, Saddleback, or Brownsville experience. If where two or more are gathered there God truly is, than the fellowship of the believers should not be chained to a campus of buildings. I think the body of Christ in the US has gotten out of hand. When a church campus is big enough to need a buisiness office, business manager, and IT people...I think we are losing focus. This needs to be brought back into the home...even the office. Let's "have church" where the unchurched live. In the neighborhood. In a breakroom. In a locker room. Why do we make people come to our "place of worship?" Why not invite them into our home instead? Communion. What's with the cracker and juice time??? Break bread together! Share a meal with neighbors, friends, and family and take a moment (or moments) to remember that it was Christ, sacrificing himself on the cross, who makes a relationship with Jehovah posssible. THAT'S communion. I do not understand cracker and juice time. For now, Christ's church exists as is and the Gospel is being preached. In Philippians, Paul says that that is what is important. I think we need to step back, while that is going on and ask God to show us if we're going about this whole thing the way He thinks is best. I do not think we are.
Grace and Peace

 

[BoldWitness]

the church today

Hi Saints Of God !

I was reading this posting and all the replies. I agree, we are the body - why aren't His hands healing...why aren't His words teaching..???
I know this song, as well.

I believe the answer to these questions lies in this; for far too long the church has tried to conform to worldly standards. Going along to get along. We feel we need to be more upbeat so young people will come in; so we bring in all kinds of manner of dance, plays, music and the like... when what our young people need is the HOLY GHOST.

Have you ever read of the great revivals of the past, as in Wales? Old men of God such as Charles Finney? Those revivals often were started by young people. Young people who got a hunger for the Lord and things of God, and couldnt' stand for the hypocrisy they saw in their day.

I feel young people can smell a ploy a long ways a way, and if we are trying to bribe them, or buy them, or even trick them to come into the house of God, they will see the insincerity of that.
Young people today are smarter than that, and what will bring them in, crowds alike, will be a real move of the Holy Ghost.

How do we get this move?
I believe it will be when we get serious enough, that we spend the time fasting for it, praying and travailing for it. When we can't see anything but that, and we spend time seeking God for it.
I believe we will see it when we clean up the House of God, and when believers alike begin to live holy again.

You say, how can we live holy?
I believe, it is a hard thing. The only way we can ever live holy is to be 100% dependant upon the Holy Ghost. Do what you know is right according to the Word of God. Read that Word, allow that Word to come alive in you, and renew your mind in That Word daily. Stay clear from all appearances of evil. Be careful what we hear, and see. Keep on the Armour of God, and put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

I believe the Body of Christ will again rise up in power. God will have a Bride without spot or wrinkle, Amen!!!!

Take my life and let it be
consecrated Lord for Thee.......


Bold Witness --BW.