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Dear family,
We hear a lot in some circle about how The Church NEEDS to get back to basics and Christians need to start LIVING like Christians. There are those in the church world today that teach and preach a “feel-good” message. It is rampant everywhere. We must love everybody so we make them feel good about themselves and introduce the message of salvation easy so they are not offended. We must embrace everyone. We must go easy on calling sin “SIN.” The cross, it’s bloody and offensive to people. So we remove such symbols from our churches so they can feel good while they are here and so they will come back. Large churches are built on the idea. (That is not to say every large church is built that way!) But many of the mega churches and TV ministries are built on just such a premise. “We have to CHANGE our methods and our message IF we are to reach today’s generation. We must tell them how to be successful and acceptable in today’s society. Everyone from political arena to the church world is calling for CHANGE which suggests to me that people as a whole are “sick” of the whole mess the world has turned into. What needs to change and how do we change it? Is it methods, message, music, programs? What is it that makes His Church “BE” the church? Do we go back 50 years for our pattern or where do we look? I believe we can find the answer in the Scriptures. Jesus in John 13 said LOVE ONE ANOTHER. Jesus told us to KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD in Matt 22:37-40. Jesus spoke to us about SELF-DENIAL in Matt 16:24-25. Jesus spoke about HUMILITY in Matt 18:3-4. FORGIVENESS is what Jesus spoke about in Matt 18:15-20. Jesus spoke about HOLDING JESUS ABOVE ALL OTHERS, BEING SERVANTS, BEING READY, BEING FAITHFUL, BEING BENEVOLENT, and in Matt 28:18-20 Jesus spoke to us about SHARING HIM WITH OTHERS. Later through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Paul spoke to us about BEING SEPARATE in 2 Co 6:14-17. Paul spoke to us about SPEAKING, SINGING, SUBMITTING in Eph 5:19-21. So it isn’t about methods, music, OR programs but it is about LIVING and TALKING like our LORD. It is about BEING godly, holy and righteous. That’s what the church is supposed to look like.
See you Sunday,
Bro. Mike
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