Church and the Movie Theater (video)

Hebrews 10:24-25

24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Acts 2:42-47

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

1 Corinthians 1:9

9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Matthew 18:20

20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.

Is going to church truly fellowship?

Is there any difference between going to church and going to the movies?

Resources:

Forsake Assembly 

https://www.livinggodministries.net/living_god_ministries/radio_archive/audio_files/hebrews_41_ch10_25_foresake_assembly.mp3

Church and the Movie Theater 

https://96tolife.blogspot.com/2008/11/church-and-movie-theater.html?m=1

Are Christians commanded to go to church?

 

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:24‭-‬25)." Is church attendance true fellowship? What is the foundation of fellowship? Resources: https://96tolife.blogspot.com/search/label/Fellowship?m=1 https://www.livinggodministries.net/living_god_ministries/radio_archive/audio_files/hebrews_41_ch10_25_foresake_assembly.mp3

Can anything good come from Nazareth?

Shortly after the ministry of Jesus Christ began we read where the Lord calls Philip and Nathanael. In John 1:45-46, it says, “Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, the One the prophets foretold—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.” We don't know what made Nathanael stereotype Jesus for being from Nazareth, but it is clear that his opinion of Nazarenes was not high. It is an unfortunate fact of life that we have prejudice. Racial, economic, cultural, religious, and social prejudice are a few of the stereotypes we use against each other. It was no different in the first century. While it is no surprise to see this type of prejudice from the world, it is disheartening to see it in the Church. Christians find many ways to look down on each other. The list is endless, but a few of the ways we do it are as follows:

Lone Ranger Christian

A Lone Ranger Christian is said to be "a Christian who avoids fellowship with other believers or avoids going to church and being a part of a local body of believers." The fact that this term exists and there is a definition for it is evidence of the lack of love within the body of Christ. I can't say they don't exist, but I have never heard anybody proclaim themselves to be a Lone Ranger Christian, much less profess they are actively avoiding fellowship or going to church because they don't need anybody in their lives. But, I do know of people who have left churches or avoided fellowship with other Christians because of the Christians in those groups. Nobody who labels another believer as a Lone Ranger Christian seems inclined to ask the person they are referring to why they are avoiding fellowship or left a church. Furthermore, do they look inward and ask themselves, "What beliefs do we hold that may be a problem for others?" or "Are we demonstrating the love of God to our fellow Christians?" It is easy to just dismiss another Christian as the problem rather than first looking at ourselves to see if we are to blame. If you believe someone is a Lone Ranger Christian, don't dismiss them, but remember that "You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Galatians 5:14)." Wouldn't you want someone to come to you if they had a problem with how you were acting? Give them the benefit you would want to be given to you by others. 

Antinomian

It is said that in Christianity an "antinomian takes the principle of salvation by faith and divine grace to the point of asserting that the saved are not bound to follow the law of Moses." In other words, they believe that if you are not living a life of obedience and repentance to the law, then you are giving people a license to sin. Therefore, you are dismissed as an outlier to the faith, someone to be avoided, and who needs to be reigned back into the faith. In all honesty, however, the true antinomians are those who believe that the law of Moses, any law for that matter, plays a role in the life of a Christian. The Bible says, "Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith (Galatians 3:11).” Clearly, as the verse states, Christians live by faith not by the law. Therefore, the ones who are the real antinomians are those who believe that a Christian, the saved, is bound to follow the law of Moses. Furthermore, we are told that "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law (1 Corinthians 15:56)." Who is giving people a license to sin? Is it the person living by faith in God to live His life through them, or the one trying to live by laws designed to modify their flesh? If the righteous live by faith then it must be the unrighteous who live by the law. Do not let yourselves be pigeon-holed into accepting a label that in truth belongs to the ones doing the labeling. 

Two-Timers

They are called Two-Timers, Cultural Christians, Convenient Christians, Chreasters, C&E Christians, Pointsettia & Lily Christians, CEOs, and on and on. They are Christians who only attend Church sparingly, on holidays, or twice a year on Christmas and Easter. Some of these terms I have never heard of before. Similar to Lone Ranger Christians, these so-called Two-Timers, are Christians who are put down for only attending church on special occasions. The idea behind the labeling is that these are not true Christians, but they only give God recognition on religious holy days, but the rest of the year they have nothing to do with God. Again, like with the Lone Ranger Christians, there may be people who do this. But, again, do those participating in the unloving act of name-calling ever look inward and examine themselves? Why would a person only come to church on holidays? Could it be that they can only tolerate the Christians and the teachings at the church they attend on holidays? If the people at these churches are coming up with all these condemning labels, perhaps that is just the tip of the iceberg with what goes on inside the walls of these churches. I wonder if what is being taught is the law. The law makes you mean. The law makes you judge others. The law makes you miserable and misery loves company. Who was it that Jesus Christ came down the hardest on? It was the religious leaders. Speaking to the Scribes and Pharisees, Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness (Matthew 23:23).” Notice that He says they neglect justice, mercy, and faithfulness. If someone is only attending church on holidays, and it bothers you, go them in love, expressing justice, mercy, and faithfulness to them. You may win your brother or sister or discover something about yourself and your church that needs addressing. 

I chose to discuss the labels of Lone Ranger Christian, Antinomian, and Two-Timer because of personal experience. These are labels that have been placed on me because of judgmental Christians who did not understand the things I believe about the faith or were too close-minded to listen to what I believe. There was a time early in my faith when I didn't attend church regularly for a few years. From the outside, this could appear to be me acting like a Lone Ranger Christian or a Two-Timer. It was me having difficulty finding a church that was teaching the grace of God to my satisfaction. Therefore, I chose not to attend a local church because I didn't want to expose myself to teaching I disagreed with for the sake of fellowship with people who didn't believe like me. Is that fellowship? Nobody asked me why I left and when people discovered I wasn't attending church, the labels were applied. I desired fellowship and found it online. But, that doesn't count for those who considered me an outcast. The first time I was labeled an antinomian was by a local pastor whose church I attended. During a conversation outside of church on the subject of water baptism, he labeled me an antinomian because I don't believe water baptism is necessary for salvation or the first act of obedience after salvation. When you can't convince somebody with scripture, putting a label on them is supposed to qualify as winning an argument. Unfortunately, people would rather try and win an argument and lose their brother. Nathanael labeled Jesus with his sarcastic question, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" He soon found out that the only thing that we can say is good came from Nazareth. Do not let fellow Christians look at you like a Nazarene because they don't take the time to find out who you are and what motivates you. In Christ, you are a child of God, who is not alone, not under the law, and who is a member of the Church. Grace and Peace. 

Unity of the Faith

"And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." Ephesians 4:11-13

The other day I was asked, "What is it you enjoy most about your church?" I had to ponder for a moment so as not to give an answer off the top of my head. My response was, "I enjoy my church because the message that is preached is not taught anywhere else in the world as far as I know." That may sound strange given the fact there are millions of Christians around the world and thousands of churches that they meet inside. In general, the message preached is the same as is probably taught in those other churches; that Jesus Christ is our God and Savior and the only means by which mankind can be saved. However, the devil is in the details as they say. I have been a Christian for over 20 years and have interacted with hundreds of Christians both in person and online. Besides the fact that we all say we believe in Jesus Christ, for the most part, that is where the agreement ends. There is the assumption that every church teaches the same thing about how Christians are to live out our faith. For the majority of churches this assumption is true, but, unfortunately, when it comes to my church it is not. And thank God for it. The main difference between what is taught at my church and what I have experienced being taught in other churches is on the subject of the Gospel. Every church will say "we must preach the Gospel" to the lost world. Yet, the question that is never asked as a follow up is, "What is the Gospel?" or more to the point, "What is the problem that Jesus came to solve?" If someone has an answer to this question it has gone something like, "Jesus died for my sins so that when I die I will go to heaven." That is not incorrect, but it is incomplete. This answer stems from the belief that the main problem between mankind and God is that we are sinners who just need to accept Jesus' offer of forgiveness and you are saved. While I don't doubt God will save a person who believes that, the answer is not entirely correct. What I believe is that the problem between mankind and God is that we are spiritually dead in our sins prior to accepting Jesus Christ as our savior. Jesus Christ definitely died for our sins, but that was so He could restore the life of God, lost in Adam, to those who have placed a saving faith in Him. The Gospel is sin, death, forgiveness, and the restoration of life. Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, spiritually died (God removed His life from Adam), God forgave the sins of the world when Jesus died on the cross and, raised from the dead, He restores God's life to those who place faith in Him. That may seem minor to some, but the full effect of this difference reveals itself as Christians walk out their faith.

The difference between believing the Gospel is just Jesus died for my sins and believing that He died for my sins in order to restore the life of God to me is wider than the Grand Canyon. For those that believe the former, they are taught to believe that the sin issue still exists between themselves and God. Consequently, their lives become a life trapped in a cycle of sin, forgiveness, sin, forgiveness, repeat. Therefore, they end up believing things like their sins separate them from God. This, in turn, leads to inventing various types of unbiblical sacrifices to perform in order to get God to forgive them; confession booths, altar calls, repetitive prayers, keeping short accounts and so on. In the midst of this many will end up believing God is disgusted with them and will inflict multiple forms of "punishment" on them for their sins; removal of blessings, inflicting harm on them, turning away from them, etc. This is not the Christian life. For the few of us, in my opinion, that believe the latter in that our sins are no longer an issue between us and God, our lives become one of learning to trust and depend on our God in the midst of any sins we may commit. We still believe sin is a serious issue, but we know that God is not counting our sins against us. Besides, sin is so terrible that it deserves the death of God, Jesus Christ on the cross, as payment for those sins. We do not have a life to offer that God would accept. That is why there are no more sacrifices for sin. This allows God, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, to meet the deepest needs of our heart and get to know us while, in turn, we get to know Him; the definition of a relationship. The focus comes off of us and our behavior and on to Him and His love for us and life in us. It is the difference between spending our lives endlessly trying to please God through our efforts and spending our lives resting in the finished work of an already pleased God because of our faith in what Jesus Christ has already accomplished for us. That is Christian living! The apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian church about attaining "the unity of the faith" and "the knowledge of the Son of God." Christians will always struggle to attain this unity, this side of eternity because of this misunderstanding of the most important and basic element of the Christian faith. Many of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers that God has given to the church for nearly two thousand years have struggled to agree on these same subjects; the history of the early church detailed in the New Testament reveals this truth. However, God is still working within His church and building it daily. I, for one, am blessed to have discovered the fullness of the Gospel and am privileged to have the opportunity to share what God has revealed to me with anyone who will listen. This is why I enjoy my church.

Born Again

"Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” John 3:3

It is a simple question, but one that often times has the most impossible answer. How long have you been a Christian? For most Christians the answer is simple. The answer usually takes one of three forms; you give the year you became a Christian, the amount of years you have been a Christian or the place you became a Christian. For me I would say, "Since 1996." That answer would give the person asking the question a reference point as to how long I have been saved. However, I have noticed a lot of people who say they are Christians who would answer how long they have been a Christian with an answer like, "I have been a Christian my entire life." While for some this is just another way of saying that they have been a Christian since they were a child. This is fine. Most likely it means they accepted Jesus Christ as their savior at a young age. Yet, for many, when they say they have been a Christian their entire life, they literally mean their whole life; since birth. This is wrong and not an answer backed up by Scripture. As one pastor said, “No one came out of their mother’s womb saying “Praise, Jesus”. We were born dead spiritually and that’s the problem of mankind, spiritual death.” Being raised in a "Christian" family or having membership in a particular Christian church fellowship or denomination does not make you a Christian. In fact, Jesus Christ said, "no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again (John 3:3)." He didn't say, you must be born, but born again. Their is a difference. All of us have been born into this world, but their must come a time when we realize our need for salvation, or to be saved, by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. Now, some of these people who say they have been a Christian their entire life may even say that such a moment took place. But, that "moment" is usually a time when they were "confirmed" and admitted as a full member of a particular church, as is the practice of many denominations, or when they were water baptized as an infant by their "believing" parents who believe "that at the heart of a baptized child, faith as a gift or grace from God, as distinct from an act by the person, is made present." While this may make an individual a part of a church, it doesn't make them a member of the true body of Christ. Thus, I believe there are many people who say they are Christians, but who truly are not. I speak from experience.

For the first 25 years of my life, if someone were to ask me if I was a Christian, I would have said, "Yes." Why? Because, I was raised in a "Christian" home, lived in a predominantly Christian culture, occasionally went to church, was baptized as a kid and was "confirmed" by a church.  Yes, I knew of Jesus. I knew He died on the cross and was raised from dead. I knew a few scriptures. Who doesn't know John 3:16? "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." But, I don't recall ever hearing anything about having to be born again, spiritual death or anybody explaining the fullness of the Gospel to me. Nobody becomes a Christian until there arrives a moment in their life where they recognize their need to be saved from the wages of sin, which is death, by the gift of God, which is the life of God found only through faith in Jesus Christ. You see, we are all born physically alive to the world, but spiritually dead to God. Through various life struggles and experiences, the average person realizes they are missing something in their life and turn to Jesus to find it. This happens many ways and most Christians cannot even really explain it at the time it happens. But, they all know that at a certain moment in time they accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. It is at that moment that they were born again of the Spirit of God. The life of God was restored to them and they came alive to Him. That something that was missing is the spiritual death everyone born into this world has and tries to fill through all the world has to offer, but can only be satisfied by the life of God, in Christ. While this may seem to be a nitpicked, theological point to some, not being clear about it has eternal consequences. Jesus said, "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son (John 3:18)."It is clear that if you do not believe in Jesus Christ as your savior, you stand "condemned already." That means you are headed straight for a Christless eternity; forever separated from God in Hell. In other words, you are born on the path to destruction unless you are born again. Therefore, if you believe you have been a Christian your entire life, you may have put faith in the wrong Jesus and are not truly born again.

Interview with Church Dropouts

I recently had the privilege of being interviewed by my friends from church, and sisters in Christ, Peggy and Lisa (behind the camera) for their new YouTube channel, Church Dropouts. Here is the video. It is about 45 minutes in length. Enjoy and God Bless!