Has God commanded in his word a particular order of service? Has God shown us what we are to do during a “church service?” Are there biblical commands requiring once-weekly attendance at a local fellowship? There is only ONE Body, even though there may be many local expressions of it. However, once people begin to see their own local fellowship or group of fellowships as the only true church, they have moved outside of the biblical terminology. To favor one side of Jesus’ ministry is to neglect the other.
- Now that I think about it, I shouldn’t have since there’s a CONTACT PAGE on every one of my web sites, including the page with the article he called me about.
- If any individual were to find true salvation in Jesus Christ in a place were no church or pastor existed, that person would still be truly saved.
- In the Bible the Body is pictured as a functioning composite of equals parts, each with a role to play but all working inter-dependently for the good of the whole.
- I don’t think anyone knows as much as we would like to believe we do.
- Today, as musicologists dig deeper into the archives of monasteries and churches, more and more secular songs and instrumental works are being discovered.
- A great place to add music is your church website.
- When they hold such ridiculous ideas that dark skin is a curse from god, then yes, we worry.
We do not appoint a stranger to be our shepherd, but we expect and pray that God will raise up elders from within the Body. In almost every country where persecution broke out the Christians had to retreat to small, hidden, home-based fellowships. Those who could only function as Christians within an organised structure had a hard time surviving, but those whom God had called out and trained beforehand were ready to provide sanctuaries and refuges for the persecuted.
Of Music, Or Should We Simply Sing Vocal Or A Cappella Music?
The Jews could understand this from the Scriptures in their own language, and we can clearly understand it from the casinos with coin pushers near me translations into our language. If instruments are still acceptable in worship today, this should be equally clear in our translations of the New Testament. Again, the New Testament repeatedly emphasizes that everything we do in worship must promote understanding and teaching. We must not add anything that is not understandable. As discussed earlier, the Old Testament authorized great emphasis on elaborate outward ritual and ceremony. But this does not fit the spiritual emphasis of New Testament worship.
Prophetic Word: An Invitation To The Secrets Of Gods Heart
Noah, Abraham, Job – none of OT saints, though truly called of God, ‘went to church’ yet their experience of God was rich and real. When at last a tabernacle was provided for more formal worship, it was not a fixed structure for formal worship meetings. God dwelt with and moved with the people, and this we know was a pattern of the temple to come, the “temple not made with hands.” The bible can show us what is necessary to maintain a healthy body of believers, but it cannot lay out an order of service, nor give instructions on how to set up “a church”.
And you and your spouse and my family are deep-sea fishing off the Florida coast. My youngest son gets too close to the edge, and when a wave tilts the boat, he loses his balance and falls into the water and disappears beneath the surface. After about ten seconds of breathless suspense I burst out of the water and I’ve got him. I hand him up over the side and just as I am getting into the boat a shark cuts out of nowhere and hits me from behind and takes away half my side. You pull me into the boat and just before I bleed to death I look up into your face and say, “Take care of the boy for me.” Now what Paul does is to give four incentives, or motivations or encouragements to the elders to do their work with great diligence and seriousness.
Our heavenly father is forgiving and no matter how bad you mess up, if you feel sorry and ask for forgiveness he will grant it. Many people also say that the LDS church is a cult. Spend five minutes with one of us and you can tell we are not a cult.
“outside The Church There Is No Salvation”
The bride’s family were strict Catholics who didn’t speak a lick of English while the groom’s dad was the pastor of his church. A small one with a couple of witnesses in the Catholic Church and then a larger one in the other church. The guests thought it was weird but most only came to the second ceremony and recognized the importance of the Catholic ceremony.
