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I have been an Elder at the Community Bible Church in Minneapolis Kansas. For 35+ years.  During that time I have been writing these thought...

Friday, August 5, 2016

"Churches Today"


Victory Can Be Yours!

Article #29 –“Churches Today”



            Why can’t the church of today be as the first century church?  Because we do not follow the example laid out for us.  We do not continually devote ourselves to; study, prayer, fellowship, and the breaking of bread together.  Instead, the churches of today, in most quarters, find the leadership figuring how to entertain and fill the pews and the collection plates.  While the leadership is doing that, those attending church are coming to be entertained, glad someone else is doing it so they do not have to be involved, with little concern about the accuracy of what is being taught.

            Those attending church need to be as the Apostle Paul found the people in Berea, “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)  We, in our churches today also must be studying our Bibles daily in order to test what we are being taught from our pulpits.  You do not have to have a degree from a seminary to understand the Bible.  God did not inspire His word for the highly intellectuals only.  His word is written so that anyone can pick it up and allow the Holy Spirit to teach him from it.  We must study and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s truth to us as we read and pray.  Prayer brings us into a closer fellowship with the Lord so we are more open to His truths.  If we just listen to the teaching of others and take for granted they are right, we can easily be led astray.  The apostle Paul was continually confronted with the problem of false teachers.  Many of his epistles were written to ward off false teachings threatening the foundation of the church. These false teachers were teaching against such things as; the deity of Jesus, against the resurrection, against the virgin birth, against the humanity of Jesus.  All of these false teachings were attempts to undermine the church’s foundation, Jesus Christ.  If we are not continually in prayer, study and fellowship; we cannot ward off such false doctrines.  “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.” (Eph. 4:14)

            Another reason we are not like the first century church is because we do not have oneness of mind, or like-minded and sincerity of heart.  That is because we do not all properly interpret the bible.  Can you imagine what the church would look like if we all diligently studied our Bible with the purpose of understanding God’s whole truth and not compromising God’s truth to justify society’s actions?  “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.” (1 Cor. 1:10)  Oneness of mind comes from using the word of God as He intended it to be used.  God is not an author of confusion, but we have caused confusion by abusing His word.  The Bible is often interpreted to serve our own needs, egos, or our own selfish interests. 

            You, too, can have victory in Jesus!  More to follow.



Lowell Parrish

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