Saturday, March 03, 2007

WHEN SEARCHING FOR A CHURCH


What are we looking for when searching for a home church? Here is something I read about seeking out a church to attend.It was taken from a commentary on Romans 16:17-20 & 2 Peter 2:1-3, preached 12/15/91 (Gil Rugh).

How important is the word to you and I?


"We [the Church] are more concerned with our feelings and our experiences than we are with the Truth of God ... You better be looking for a place where the Word is believed and taught. That's what the Church is; it's the pillar and support of the truth ... Are you looking for friends or are you looking for the truth? We want to corrupt and twist the Church to make it what people want ... Come to the church that believes and teaches the truth! ... God's power does not operate apart from God's Word ... If Satan wants to disrupt the work of God in your life, what does he do? -- attack the Word, so that the power of God does not work ... You could never have been saved apart from the Word of God, and you ought to understand, you can never grow, you can never be firmly planted as a child of God, unless you are constantly, constantly taking in the diet of the pure milk of the Word of God ... We must have that imbedded in our hearts and minds. Never be satisfied, never tolerate anything else, than a ministry that is focused in its entirety on the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good post...

It seems like it gets harder and harder to find a church these days that places scripture at the forefront of what they do. I am actually not necesarily actively seeking a church home right now, but I can't say I am completely satisfied with the place where I currently worship in that regard.

Anonymous said...

Amen! I praise God that He gave me and my family the little church we have. Please pray for us though. We are so small that we don't have enough money to support our pastor and his family. Other churches had to help us this year and my pastor and his family are very frugal! www.providenceopchurch.org

Rita Loca said...

It seems so onvious doesn't it? But then we see that people love to have their ears tickled!

Janie said...

It is harder and harder to find a church that teaches BIBLE. Sadder still that some "pastors" are saying that Christians have been guilty of "biblolatry" and that there are ways outside the Bible that God is going to speak to us and teach us. Sad indeed.

Baptist Girl said...

hi MoleOnABull,

I agree it is harder and harder to find a church. We are searching ourselves and are yet to find a church that does not promote Rick Warren's book. It is disheartening.

Hi luvvum,
Small as it may be, it is a blessing to you. I will pray for growth for your church. It is wonderful hos the Lord provides through our brothers and sisters.

Hi junglemom,
It is so obvious but like you commented folks just like there ears to be tickled instead of diving deep into the word, they take someone elses opinion and agree to it, sad.

Hi Janie,
It is sad that someone would say we worship the bible because we consider it so important. we worship the only one that is worthy of worship and that is the God of the bible. It is sad when the importants of scripture is not important in a christian's life.

Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?" declares the LORD. "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word. Isa. 66:2

Cristina

Anonymous said...

Good point about finding a church that doesn't believe in the Warren Doctrine... yea, I've seen many church leaders that practically worship this guy. As if he were the next greatest thing to happen since the invention of the wheel!

I'm still only in college, but I am hoping and praying that I will be able to find a church that I can say is the place my future family will worship God and grow together... from what I've seen, I'll just say that I am a little worried about not finding and having to settle. I know God will take care of me though.

Blessings

Baptist Girl said...

Hi MoleOnABull,
I will be praying for the Lord's leading.

Cristina

Anonymous said...

Hi, Baptist Girl! I am a Reformed Baptist. You seem to have the same convictions, and I would like to recommend a couple of sites that might be helpful for you in searching for a Biblically faithful church. Founders Ministries is working to encourage Baptist churches to return to their Reformed roots. Check out http://www.founders.org/ and click on "Founders-friendly churches." See what they have listed in your state. Also, the church that I go to, Capitol Hill Baptist Church in D.C., helped to start 9 Marks Ministries, which exists to encourage churches of several denominations (Baptist, Presbyterian, Christian Reformed, and possibly Lutheran, I think, as well as non-denominational churches) to become more Biblically healthy in theology and practice. I encourage you to look at http://www.9marks.org/ and also do a church search there. My fiancee currently lives in another another state, and I helped her to find a theologically sound church through the 9 Marks website. I also found my current church through Founders Ministries, so try both of them! :-) May God bless you in your search!

Baptist Girl said...

Hi Chris,

Welcome and thank you for those suggestions. I will check them out. I live in Canada so I don't know what it has to offer in Canada. God Bless

Cristina