A Tale of Two Churches

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I was in Indiana last weekend "trying out." That part of Indiana has small churches of Christ all around it.  One of the local families was taking us around the countryside showing us the lay of the land.  They pulled up to this now defunct church building and began telling us about its demise over 80 years earlier. The people directly involved are now dead.  Most of them are buried in the cemetery across the road due west of the church building. What I am sharing below is taken from part of their family history.  (An unpublished manuscript.)  I have not edited it in any way except that I have added current pics of the two buildings of the little churches involved. And a few labeled comments below… 

This is not a great doctrinal treatise but how it was remembered in later years by a nine year old child… 

Bethany Church of Christ

How Liberal Churches Are Like The Federal Government

Today I was considering the course our nation has gone… from being among the richest nation in the world to being basically owned by the Chinese.  Today I was also considering the course of various churches in our community.  They have gone from being Bible based with eternity and godliness being their focus…  to shallow speaking shells whose children are fleeing from them….

And I asked "why?"

Because both entities have made the same mistake. Both thought they were smarter than God and ignored His precepts.  Both have gone down a road that had an “unknown price”  to pay for it.  Both are now finding out the price for their choices.  Such is the way of sin…..

Consider…

"For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order : if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either."   II Thessalonians 3:10

A Church Satisfied With Being a Church

Have you noticed that nowadays churches seem to be about everything but being churches? Let’s see …

We have so called churches with gymnasiums, swimming pools, restaurants, bowling alleys, day care, schools, gift shops, etc. in them.

We have churches preoccupied with teaching everything from yoga to belly dancing. Here in Wichita we had a fellow trying to start a church inside of a strip club… with other local preachers trying to justify said behavior.

Where Did Church Buildings Come From?

In recent years I have continued to run into folks that have believed it was somehow more spiritual to worship God at home alone, or in small groups etc. Each time it seems the persons are coming from a different direction but to the same conclusion that the practice of gathering together in a public building as a congregation of God’s people was somehow inferior to a private, or hidden worship.

They are generally pursuing intimacy and fear losing it.

By way of contrast I have also continued to run into folks that believe that the building was “nothing” and therefore you can do anything with said building that you wish. They have thereby wrapped Jesus’ name around everything from country music shows to strip dancing. Yes… here in Wichita a group recently tried to mingle the worship of God with a strip club!

Locally we are trying to raise enough for a down payment and to find financing to buy our first building… so we have been discussing every aspect of this question for the last year.

Here is some of the rationale often given to dismiss church buildings;

• Organized religion is corrupt. (No one can deny that some, if not most, of it is!)
• Constantine founded modern Christianity in the 300’s AD. (Not true…)
• Church buildings were not used until after Constantine’s edict of Milan in 313AD. (this is a blatant misrepresentation of history!)
• In the first century the church was composed of “house churches.” (Some were in homes… only some… not all or even most.)
• If a local church owns a building, then its work ends up centering on the building rather than saving souls etc. (This can and often does happen. This argument is like saying ‘since some marriages fall apart we should do away with marriage.’ Simply put, it is clearly an over-reaction.)

What Denomination Are You?

“If {anyone suffers} as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.” (I Peter 4:16)

We are simply Christians: no more, no less. That’s what Jesus wants us to be.  Wouldn’t you agree?  Have you noticed that churches seem to have a hard time deciding to be content to be just churches? Christians need to be content to be Christians and churches need to be content to be churches.  What does the Bible actually teach us?

Most are unaware that the modern series of divisions that we call denominationalism is actually addressed (in principle) by the Bible.  “Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.”  (I Corinthians 1:10)

Come With Us

Come with us and we will do you good for the Lord has promised! A Christian’s offer from 1700 BC? (Numbers 10:28-36)

Since we started a new congregation back in October… we have been going about the countryside and making this kind of an offer to various folks all around us.

“Come with us and help us start a new congregation. We offer you a once in a life time opportunity to step out of the shadows and do something, be someone special!”

Or perhaps, “You can go on doing what you have always done and when your life is done… you will have done what everyone else has… But you could choose to come out and do something special! You could help to place the name of Christ where it has never been!”

We have worded this offer in various ways but it has come down to a special opportunity to start a new work where you are important rather than just being a nameless number in a multitude.

If you worship God among hundreds or even thousands… what will your impact be? Where can you do the most good? Where will your children learn the greatest lessons on their need to take up the yoke of the Lord Jesus? Even your children have a chance to be on the front lines for Jesus!

We make this offer to you… Jesus knows you but we’d like to! 

Jesus will always do you good… Now we’d like to! 

Today’s article is based on very similar ancient offer given by Moses to his father in-law Hobab (a.k.a. Jethro) and some of Hobab’s extended family. It is the kind of offer that a Christian or a church should regularly give today. We’ll look at this virtually unknown offer… made long ago to a family outside of Judaism.

Should Churches Worship Money?

Wherefore Come out from among them, and be ye separate...

"For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." (1 Timothy 6:10)

Did you ever begin wondering if “going to church” was about raising money?  In some churches there is a constant drive for the raising of money.  There's a collection for this project. There's a collection for the missionaries in some far away land.  There's a collection for the missionaries in some other far away land.

 Once in Florida I was studying with a neighbor who asked me about our attitude toward money.  It seemed like a strange question.  Well, come to find out, he had gone to church with his wife. . .   (the man considered himself an unbeliever).  During the service they had taken up a collection for the building fund.  To make a long story short, they didn’t get enough money.  The preacher ordered the doors to be locked, with the admonition that “no one is to leave the room!”  They passed the plate a total of three times.

Amongst so many of today’s churches, if you finally make it through all the contributions, then they start up with the fundraisers.  They have garage sales, auctions, cookies, donuts, chili feeds etc. A few years back a law office sent me a letter promising us a large contribution if our young people would be sent out to deliver neighborhood fliers promoting his law firm!

The Church of the Less Noble

The Three Month Old Church at Thessalonica...

"Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily {to see} whether these things were so."  (Acts 17:11)

The church at Thessalonica was founded in an uproar. 

After only three weeks of teaching, Paul had flee for his life leaving this group of new Christians behind to fend for themselves.  Not only that, but the people from the community of Thessalonica pursued Paul some 60 miles to Berea and tried their dead level best to destroy Paul’s efforts in Berea.

The establishment of the church at Thessalonica so upset the status quo, that Thessalonian community was outraged that anyone would buy into this new thing called "Christianity"… They found it to be an incredible inconvenience that the gospel was all true.  The Jewish community didn’t want to hear it, and was angry at those “less enlightened” Greeks who were loyal to the truth. Here is the text...

How do Churches Become Liberal?

I suppose that everyone recognizes that there are liberal churches and there are conservative churches.  Most liberal churches have arisen out of more conservative churches.  i.e.  Most churches have begun as conservative churches then over time became more and more liberal.

Today I look around at the shallow, noisy conglomerations that many call churches and wonder how in the world people are deceived into believing that these are what Jesus founded.  They generally operate using Jesus' name, but are not anywhere close to anything described in the New Testament.  How do people go from one day believing the Bible to be the Word of God and the next day just jump into a Rock concert while calling this “noisy gong and clanging cymbals” mentality  worship? (See I Corinthians 13:1)

Answer… generally they don't!  Based on Jesus' parable of the Sower we learn that it is a more gradual “choking out” of respect for the Word of God.  Most of all, Satan fears your comprehension.  He would prefer that you just not understand (Matthew 13:19) so he can snatch it away.  When that fails, the devil tries to offend you away from respect for scripture before you can become long term and stable (Matthew 13:20-21).

So They Call This Worship?

Wherefore Come out from among them, and be ye separate...

Text for today’s article:

"And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you." (II Corinthians 6:15-17)

It has been sometime since I have written, owing to the distractions of building onto my house.  However, I have had opportunity to research the modern homogenization of the church into worldly entertainment that is sweeping our country.  I will share this research with you.  As with the threat of Islam, most people among the older generation have no idea what is afoot, or at least how far it goes.  Today, I’d like to take a peek into this subject.

Three specific contemporary trends come to mind:
1.  The community church movement and contemporary worship services.
2.  The loss of discipline and godliness as a cornerstone of faithful religion.
3.  The final act: setting aside Jesus as insignificant and unimportant.  (Oprah’s version of church)

Not every church moving in this direction involves all three trends, but any one of the three is a movement away from the established truths of scripture.

The Day Our Church Fired Jesus!

Could Jesus preach for “your” church?

Is “your” church, “His” church?

Today’s article will be intended to fill in an oversight in my preaching and teaching.  Over the last few years I have found myself reacting to some of the ever changing attitudes of the society in which I live.  

I have come to believe that the “feel good” religion now sweeping our churches in the name of Christianity is to the church what drug addiction is to society at large.  Once these churches are infected, they rapidly become addicted.  I.E.  filled with a very shallow people wanting ever more dramatic events to make us “feel” fulfilled.  Once addicted, hype replaces substance. Sounds like somewhat of a reversed substance abuse? Churches abuse their members  from a lack of substance.  Drug addicts abuse their bodies by the invasion of harmful substance.  These churches are always looking for the innovative method of church growth.  “Children’s church” replaces training your children to worship and respect their creator.  As the youth move into teenage, entertainment replaces serious Bible study and effective spiritual growth. In other words, the original call of the gospel is often replaced with an offer of entertainment or treats.

Most of the religious leaders involved in these changes know that what they are presenting is different than what Jesus presented.  Their justification (once called on the issue) will remind you of all the “medical”marijuana arguments raging in the secular world.  The bottom line is really the same. 

A "Normal" Christian Worship Service???

We recently have had several studies concerning these variations of worship that have come into the churches all over the area around us.  The reality is that in the Wichita area, we have seen churches offering everything from rock music to bribes in order get people into church.  Here, the liberal churches of Christ have been embracing more and more of these behaviors and bringing shame on all of us… whether we participate or not.

Last month one of those liberal churches… the South Emporiachurch of Christ (Wichita, Ks) invited our young people to some kind of wing ding. . . They promised to give them all free pizza and dilly bars if they’d come!  The social gospel has so eclipsed the gospel of Christ in these churches that they don’t even recognize the damage they are doing…  Perhaps even more tragic, I doubt that many of that church’s members realize that I have raised a doctrinal objection to their behavior with their leadership. They are still blindly following along.

Jesus said…”They are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit."  Note how the focus of the invitation is blatantly social/worldly.  Notice further what this says about their young people… they assume that their young people are not interested in godliness… they are therefore luring them with worldliness.  Dilly bars, special appearances, entertainment etc.
 Let me ask a practical question. When you picture Jesus’ cross… Do you envision the apostles working the crowd offering free pizza and dilly bars? Me neither! So… Is Jesus the Head of this church?

What is a Contemporary Worship Service?

"Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."   Matthew 15:14

It seems like over and over this question has been coming up lately.  As this email list has grown, folks from all over have been asking about this.   Almost all the older generation is against this innovation... They just can't seem to figure out why!  Since this is a computer distributed (emailed) article let me recommend that you try an experiment to answer your own question. 

Run a word search on your Bible using your computer and see if you can find a contemporary worship service. Did you?  Me neither.  “Contemporary” doesn’t even occur in my version of the bible (NASV) or a KJV.  What does that tell you?  Churches going this direction are going where they have no instruction from Christ! 

Normally the churches instituting this “contemporary” worship service have long ago quit looking to the Bible for direction.  Almost always, they institute it as a separate service…. Why?  Because if they didn’t the “old” people would walk out!  And the leaders know it! 

Jesus Teaches Us How To Judge a Church (Part 2)

*If you missed Part 1 of this post, click HERE!*
Today's post is lesson 15 from my Learn Your Bible series...

Now it’s time to get out of the car, and go inside. . .   

Jesus teaches us how to judge a church from the inside. . .

(Yes, Jesus has even more to say about that.)

Can you image assembling at church one Lord’s Day and. . . Receiving a letter from Jesus himself? Can you imagine it being addressed to your church? Well, it happened to seven churches!

The book that today we call the Revelation is actually a letter or series of letters written to the seven churches of Asia.  The main body of the book of Revelation (AKA the Apocalypse) is for all, but chapters 2 and 3 are seven “cover letters” to those seven churches. 

These letters arrived in about 96 AD.  The church had gone from it’s infancy to maturity.  The Christians of these churches were much like us.  They had not seen the events of the Bible.  They were “told” of the resurrection. The Apostles, (with the exception of John) were long dead. 

In a practical way, we could describe these letters as Jesus’ evaluation of these churches. We hear a lot today about “this” or “that” making no difference (all churches being acceptable). 

Since Jesus dictated these letters, Himself!  Let’s put the modern attitudes to the test.

Does it matter to Jesus whether your church follows the Word of God?

1. Read Revelation 1:9-18  Where was John? ______________   Who appeared?  ______________  What was John’s reaction? _____________________ What would your reaction be? _____________________________
2. Read Revelation 2:1-7  Which church received this letter? ________________ Vs 2-3  Was this a working church? _____  Did they put teachers/teachings/practices to the test? _________   Did Jesus rebuke or compliment this? __________  Vs 4  What is Jesus’ complaint? ______________ _______________  Vs 5  What is the “threat?” ________________________________________  Application:  Will Jesus just ignore a problem in a church? ______  What do you suppose it meant to the people there if Jesus withdrew his acceptance of them? ______________________  Vs 6  Today we run from the term hate.  Can  it be appropriate to hate? ________  Is it appropriate to name names? _______  Does Jesus speak in such abstract terms they would have considered Him “politically correct?” ________________
3. Read Revelation 2:8-11  Which church received this letter? _____________  Is it possible on earth to operate in such a way that Jesus has no complaints? __________  What lay in store for them? ____________________  Did Jesus encourage them? _________  When Jesus “evaluated” them, did they pass? ____________
4. Read Revelation 2:12-17   Vs 12-13 Which church received this  letter?  __________ What happened there?  __________________   Vs 14  Does Jesus get upset over allowing false teaching in a church? _________  When he describes said teaching,  what name does he use to characterize it?  _________ What are the two key elements of this teaching given? _______ _________________________  Turn to I Corinthians 10:20-22  Does this scripture deal with Jesus’ complaint?  _______  Did this church “knowingly” ignore scripture? ___________  Turn to I Corinthians 11:18-22  Do churches today ignore this scripture in the next chapter? ________   Read Revelation 2:15  closely.  Are we supposed to note principles from scripture? _________  How large would the Bible be if it were simply lists of every detail of what to do or not to do? _____________  If our actions are “in the same way.”  Should we be concerned? ________  This church is obviously ignoring I Corinthians 10:20-22… Would your church be wise to ignore I Corinthians 11:18-22? _________Revelation 2:16 Would you like to be in that congregation?  _________ 
5. Read Revelation 2:18-29  Which church received this letter? _______________  Vs 18-19  Was this church “more” or “less” than when it began?  _____________  Vs 20  Should the church be “tolerant” of teaching such of this?  ____________  What two fields of toleration are listed? ___________________ Which passage in I Corinthians deals with the eating sin described here? ___________  Vs 22 if you support this church, how does it affect you? ___________________   Vs 23  What does this mean for the children of this church? _________________________________________________
6. Read Revelation 3:1-6  Which church received this letter? ____________    Vs 1 despite the name and the appearance is it possible for a church to be dead inside? _________ Vs 2  How is deadness to be determined? _______________________    Vs 3 What are they to do? ____________ ________________  Vs 4-6  Look closely at Vs 5  What is the implied threat?  _________________________________  Can the church’s actions affect your eternity? ___________  
7. Read Revelation 3:7-13  Vs 7-8  Who opens and closes doors for churches? _______________   Vs 9  are there those who claim to follow God that in fact do not? ______   Vs 10 are they commended for their new and different ways to serve God? ___________  What are they commended for?  ________________________________   Vs 11 What is possible for someone else to do? _____________  Can they do it against your will? __________________  What are you to do to resist? ________________   Vs 12  What should you strive to be? _____________________
8. Read Revelation 3:14-22  What church received this letter?  __________  Vs 14-16 What is the worst sin? ______________ __________  Is it fair to say this makes the Lord sick to his stomach? __________ Vs 17  Can a church become so wrapped up in wealth they miss the point? __________  Does this sound like a lot of churches today? _______  Would it be fair to say they put their trust in wealth? __________  Is Jesus a jealous God? ___________________ Vs 18-22 What does Jesus council them to do? __________________ John 7:24. "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." Application:
9.  Does Jesus evaluate churches?  _________
10. Should you use the same standards Jesus uses to evaluate churches? ______________
11. Does it appear that one church is as good as another in the eyes of Jesus?  ___________
12. Read II Thessalonians 2:1-13  Does it appear that God expected there to be a departure from the truth?  ________________  Sometimes the Bible is addressed to churches, sometimes individuals.  What makes up a church? _________________  Vs 3 What must happen before the end?  _______________________  People have constantly tried to figure out what specific point in history this is referring to.  Let’s ignore that for this study and look at the principles that emerge.   Is it important for you to identify and avoid apostasy? ______________   Vs 5 Did Paul warn of such things to his generation? ___________  Shouldn’t we do the same? ________  Vs 9  Is the grandiose display to be a part of the presentation of erroneous teaching? ____________________  (Compare Vs 9 to the teaching of Jesus in Matt 7:13-14   What is one of the earmarks of most false teaching? ______________ II Thessalonians 2:10 what is the fatal flaw of those who loose out? __________ _______________________ Vs 11  is there a sense in which God can be said to be behind this? ________  Vs 12 Why would God allow such a thing? ________________________ 

"We are not again commending ourselves to you but {are} giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have {an answer} for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart." II Corinthians 5:12.

Hi I am glad you stopped by our blog. These articles are from an emailing that we did several years ago.   Today most of our work is on facebook

You can follow my personal page on Facebook by clicking on this link    ...  

  Jerry Blount 

You can follow the postings on the congregation's page by clicking on this link....   

Las Vegas church of Christ 

If you wish to worship with us....

Las Vegas church of Christ

709 Dora Celeste

Las Vegas, NM 87701

Our meeting times are

10am Sunday morning for Bible study.

11am Sunday morning for the worship service.

6pm Wednesday evening for Midweek Bible study.

If you wish to contact me...

yakipreacher@gmail.com

Be well 

Jerry Blount

Jesus Teaches Us How To Judge a Church (Part 1)

13.  "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." Matthew 7:13-14

 Most people today have misunderstood Jesus’ warning about making judgments (Matthew 7:1ff) to the point they are quite surprised to find out that Bible has a lot to say about us making sound judgments.  They are even more surprised to find that the Bible actually spends a lot of time teaching us how to judge appropriately…

Then, Jesus (and the rest of the Bible) aggressively admonishes us to judge!

Today’s email will consist of two articles sent together.  You might wish to separate your consideration of them into two parts.   The first, as the title indicates, is some teaching on the manner in which to guide our snap judgments.  The second (part 2) is a study sheet on the 7 letters dictated by Jesus Christ describing how to judge churches from the inside!

We all make judgments based on names.  We all realize that the Baptist, Methodist, or even the Lutheran churches are not the same church.  Folks spend a lot of time wringing their hands and hiding from the obvious.  Many will drive right past one church to attend the church of “their choice,” yet swear one church is as good as another.   

Let’s consider the very famous passage reproduced above.  (Matthew 7:13-14). Have you ever considered the fact that, directly from the mouth of Jesus Christ,  you have your first clue on how to judge a church and you don’t’ even need to leave the car?

The sizes of the churches do in fact vary by the overall attitudes of a local community.  Suppose you have two churches, in the same community…. Right down the road from each other, with the same name.  Which would be your first choice?  Let’s say one is a large church, and one is small.   If this situation exists (as it does in our community) one would almost certainly be much larger than the other.

Which would you choose to look at first and why?  Aren’t we all prone to go with the larger, nicer one church?  Wouldn’t we all assume that they had more going on? i.e. That they have it “together?”  In fairness, I think that is the natural inclination of all of us.  Now consider the words of Jesus.  “"Enter through the narrow gate.” 

As the leader of my family, should I direct them towards the very multitudes that Jesus warned us to avoid?  Didn’t the Lord Jesus in fact leave us with a principle that (all other things being equal)…. We are to go the opposite direction of  the crowds?

As a rule, size is an inverse indication of faithfulness. (According to Jesus)

The Apostle John echoed the teaching of the Master.    I John 4:5-6

“They are from the world; therefore they speak {as} from the world, and the world listens to them.  We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

What did Jesus say? “The way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”  So, can you now judge  from the car, which church is the most likely to be teaching the truth?  By way of contrast, which is the most likely to have things going on inside that shouldn’t be there? 

Which church is more likely to honor man, then override the teaching of God  . . . The big church or the little church?

Have you ever noticed that Jesus went out of His way to “reduce” and scatter the church in Jerusalem?  In Acts 2, when the church started 3000 souls were added to it Acts 2:41.  In a very short time, it was up to 5000 Acts 4:4.  But!  In Acts 8, through persecution, the church was scattered.

If we trust in Jesus, we are left with a brutal reality. In effect, when you see the multitudes… Run!

"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'" Matthew 7:22-23

Click HERE to view part 2 of this post!

Hi I am glad you stopped by our blog. These articles are from an emailing that we did several years ago.   Today most of our work is on facebook

You can follow my personal page on Facebook by clicking on this link    ...  

  Jerry Blount 

You can follow the postings on the congregation's page by clicking on this link....   

Las Vegas church of Christ 

If you wish to worship with us....

Las Vegas church of Christ

709 Dora Celeste

Las Vegas, NM 87701

Our meeting times are

10am Sunday morning for Bible study.

11am Sunday morning for the worship service.

6pm Wednesday evening for Midweek Bible study.

If you wish to contact me...

yakipreacher@gmail.com

Be well 

Jerry Blount

The "United Church of Christ" is NOT the church of Christ!

The United Church of Christ has nothing to do with Jesus' church!

Christians do not endorse "Gay" marriage...  it is an abomination before God!

In light of the announcement that the so-called "United Church of Christ" has endorsed same sex marriages I felt it necessary to note the fact that Christians repudiate homosexual behavior.  Naming a group of people after Christ does not make them Christians!

This has been tried before.  In Acts 15, "Some men came down from Judea and (began) teaching the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."  And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, (the brethren) determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue (vs 1-2). A group of folks were going about teaching something in the name of Christ... that they had no right to teach.  They were endorsing a behavior they had no right to endorse.  It created quite an uproar, for a while... At the conclusion of the discussion, the Apostles sent out a circular letter to straighten out the mess. Here is part of said letter:  

"The apostles and the brethren who are elders, to the brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia who are from the Gentiles, greetings.  Since we have heard that some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with (their) words, unsettling your souls..."  (Acts 15:23-24)

Does this sound familiar?  Someone who has received no instruction, is teaching something that disturbs the brotherhood and unsettles the souls of the same?