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CHURCH
CHRISTIANITY OASIS
HAS PROVIDED YOU WITH THIS CHURCH STUDY. WHAT IS A CHURCH
ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE? THE CHURCH HAS BEEN DIVIDED INTO
MANY DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS AND THE CHURCH HAS BEEN
WEAKENED DUE TO THESE DIVISIONS. LET US SEEK AND FIND THE TRUTH OF
THE CHURCH TOGETHER, SHALL WE?
When you think of
a Church, what's the first thing that
comes to your mind? Is it a building with
rock, wood, stained glass windows, organ music, choir and a
pulpit?
Do you
believe that is the interpretation of the word "Church"
which our Lord Jesus had in mind when He told Peter that he
(Peter) was the rock upon which He would build His Church?
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Matthew 16:18
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and
upon this rock I will build my Church; and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. |
Was Jesus
speaking of physical stone? Is a Church merely rock, wood
and glass?
Take a trip
with me as to find the origins of the Church..
Cain and
Abel offered sacrifices to God.
Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob built altars as a place to
sacrifice and worship God.
Was this
Church? Or are we to say because there was no physical
structure and no fellow believers present so it must not
have been a Church?
In the days of Moses, the Tabernacle was built. The tabernacle was a tent
sanctuary where God was worshipped. An important thing to
note is that the tabernacle was portable ...
That's right, you can take it from one place to another.
Is this a
Church? Or because it is no more than a portable tent, does
it fall short of your ideology of what a Church is to be?
Many
believe that the Church did not begin until after Jesus died
for our sins.
But is this TRUTH?
Let's allow
STEPHEN to answer that question for us, shall we?
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Acts 7:37-39
This is that Moses, which said unto the children of
Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up
unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye
hear. This is he, that was in the
church
in the wilderness with
the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and
with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to
give unto us:
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So we see
that Stephen knew a Church was a group of people and not a
building made of rock, wood and glass.
Just to expound on Church a bit ... Let's look
at what many consider Church is today.
On Sunday
morning, you get up early, put on your Sunday best, and you
drive to that beautiful building that you're proud to call
your Church. You sit with other believers and listen to a
man of God share the Word of God with you for about an hour
a week. As you're sitting there trying to pay attention to
the Church leader preaching, you look around at others in
the Church to see who is there and what they are wearing.
Your mind begins to drift to other things like mowing the
lawn that afternoon, so you don't want to forget gasoline
for the lawnmower on your way home from Church. Maybe you'll
clean the garage after that. You've been quite stressed at
work lately, so that thought joins with the other
distractions. Your child sitting next to you is fidgety, so
you give them that stern look to settle down, and you look
over at the woman looking in her purse mirror to be sure her
lipstick is on straight, and the person next to you keeps
coughing, without covering their mouth. Suddenly, everyone
rises to leave.
But, hey
... You are IN a building called Church.
So you must be IN Church.
Is
this what Jesus had in mind when He spoke of Church.
Wanna
bet?
Here are
some questions to determine if you are IN Church.
Are you
there because you feel obligated to be there or are you
seeking a deeper understanding of the Word of God there? Are
you there cuz your neighbor is? Do you hear and understand
the preaching that takes place as to apply the message to
your life? Do you feel the presence of the Holy Spirit
there? When you leave there ... Can you claim that you've
really been to Church ... Not just
in the flesh, but in the Spirit?
These are
important questions to ask yourself about Church.
Suppose you
take the family to a friends house and you all play Bible
Trivia. You have some real thought provoking conversations
among yourselves during the game and everyone is filled with
the Holy Spirit. Everyone learns a lot and the evening ends
with some good seeds planted for each and every person who
was there.
Would you
consider that Church?
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Matthew 18:20
For where two or three are gathered together in my
name, there am I in the midst of them. |
Do you have
to go to a certain type of building in order to have it
'count' as having been to Church? If your answer is yes, you
may want to remind yourself of what Paul said:
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1 Corinthians 6:19
What? know ye not that your body is the Temple of the
Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and
ye are not your own? |
SPIRITUALLY
SPEAKING ... YOU
ARE THE CHURCH
(And
like the Tabernacle ... You are portable!)
Hear what
is said of the Church ...
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Acts 2:47
Praising God, and having favour with all the
people. And the Lord added to the
church
daily such as should be
saved. |
Can a building be saved?
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Acts 11:22
Then tidings of these things came unto the
ears of the church
which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas,
that he should go as far as Antioch. |
Does a building have ears?
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Acts 12:5
Peter therefore was kept in prison: but
prayer was made without
ceasing of the church
unto God for him. |
Can a building pray?
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Acts 20:28
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the
flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers, to
feed the church
of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. |
Does the
building itself partake of the Word of God?
The Church in these scriptures AGAIN ... Refers to a group
of people, NOT a building.
The Church
is SPIRITUAL.
The SPIRIT within the PEOPLE gathered together is the
Church!
Jesus
reveals this TRUTH yet again ...
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Matthew 18:17
And if he shall neglect to hear them,
tell it unto the church:
but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto
thee as an heathen man and a publican.
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Was Jesus
saying to tell it to a building? Or to the people that made
up the Church?
Again ... Paul said that your body is the Temple of the Holy
Spirit. The Church resides within you ... Because the Holy
Spirit resides within you and you can take your mobile
Tabernacle anywhere you wish and share the Word of God.
You
know ...
I have
heard it said that some claim that any "On Line Ministry" is
NOT a Church ...
Does
not an "On Line Ministry" reach more souls for the Lord,
than ANY physical Church? Christianity Oasis reached over
300,000 souls in 2007.
This does
NOT mean that if you are a member here or if you spend time
sojourning through this Christian community that you should quit going to Church.
Physical fellowship may be important to many. But, it DOES mean
that we should NOT limit Church to being just a building
made of rock, wood and glass that we attend once a week for
an hour or so.
The TRUTH
is, whenever Christians unite in the name of Jesus to give
glory to God and to sacrifice by way of time Faith and Love
... That's Church.
This should
be done EVERY DAY.
You can do
so at Christianity Oasis
Take
care and have a SON-derful day
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