The Churchtown Weekly Thursday, July 11, 2024
Learn-Grow-Become-GO!
Shout it in the assembly.
Shout it to the world. (Psalm 40)
12Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. 13But evil people and impostors will flourish. They will deceive others and will themselves be deceived. 14But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. 15You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. 1I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he appears to set up his Kingdom: 2Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. 3For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 4They will reject the truth and chase after myths. 5But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you. (2 Timothy 3:12-17; 4:1-5 NLT)
Explains a lot, doesn’t it? I could probably just leave this commentary right there and let scripture speak for itself. It does not take a person long to apply these Truths to individual lives – to the life of the local congregation – to the tension that exists between the church and the world as well as within the church itself. We professed Christians, more often than not, are the first to stray away from the simple teaching of Paul to his young apprentice. “Preach The Word,” Paul tells Timothy – THE WORD. Not your own thoughts, or commentaries, or movie plots, or biographies, or song lyrics. Not from personal experience or third-party anecdotes or what you or anyone else thinks ABOUT what the Bible says – We are told to preach WHAT the Bible says.
Scripture speaks of repentance and submission and obedience – yet in the lives of many believers we see no evidence of any of those. The Bible speaks of healthy human sexuality, but we are growing more and more afraid to talk about that in the face of secular and now “Christian” backlash. The Bible speaks of conflict management – but we learn that from Dr. Phil; money management, yet we follow the ways of secular bankers; and what a healthy relationship looks like, yet we turn to Oprah and soak in the wisdom. Who is raising our children – a God-following family or the television? Who is leading our youth – submitted Christian role models or the public education system and social media outlets? Does the family even matter anymore? It does to Christ – but do we care anymore what matters to Christ? It seems as though we as the church have come to a place of submitting Christ to our will – or believing we have done so anyway.
Does church serve people? Or does church serve Christ? Build a church to serve people, and people will come – much like they come to Disney World or Wal Mart. Build it for Christ and who will dare come? We should be willing to find out, but I think that we are too afraid. “We are blessed!” we cry. How do we know? Because we are big! We are rich! We are famous! People love us! We sing and we celebrate our perceived blessings as somewhere in the world (who knows or who really cares where) another submitted Christian, persecuted, starving to death, or put to death, closes his eyes for the last time thankful for the only true blessing – his salvation. God abhors our largesse and our idol worship; but we will not stop. How could we? It matters not if God loves us, as long as the world does.
These are sobering, challenging thoughts – at least I hope they are – and I hope that they cause all professing Christians as individuals, as families, as churches and as the church, to examine who they are and what they truly believe. Scripture is plain. Our faith is to be rooted in The Word of God. Our beliefs are to be rooted in The Word of God. Our churches are to be rooted in The Word of God. If we believe as leaders or as lay persons that The Word of God does not or will not yield the results that we want, then please forsake it and do not continue to use the power of the name of Jesus to lead people to Hell.
I wrote this as a devotion on April 15 of 2028, and I believe that it is still speaking to us today. In fact, it is in large measure, what we talked about Sunday during our meeting.
What is the purpose of “church?” the answer falls into one of two large categories – the church serves people, or the church serves Christ.
The first category takes little faith as we depend upon ourselves to make things work. I can attest from personal experience that this way also leads to maximum amounts of stress and worry. What is it that scripture teaches? Something about not leaning on your own understanding?
Over the years, I have grown in my faith, and I have become more trusting in the Lord. As Christians, we operate in a different realm – we understand that we are spiritual beings, and when we are saved by the grace of God, our eyes are opened to the fact that our omnipotent, sovereign God is in charge and things will be as He wants them. If only we could have faith and GET OUT OF HIS WAY! – Or as my mentor used to say, “get out of the way of The Way!”
This does not mean that we just sit back and NOT use the skills, talents, and gifts that we have been given. It means that we use them in accordance with the will of God.
How do we discern the will of God? We pray, we are in His Word, we sit under good biblical teaching and preaching, and we have Godly, inspired, conversations. We do this as individuals, and we do this as a congregation.
We learn from scripture that we are to be prepared for the coming of the Lord every second of every day. Granted, nobody can keep that at the forefront of their mind every second, but the message is clear.
This week on Turning On the Lights! We are talking about just the opposite – those who have lived an unholy, unrepentant life but at the last hour repent, believe in and submit to Jesus and are regenerated at the last hour.
This is one of the great sticking points for some Christians – and it is certainly one of the great “gotcha” questions that Christians receive. How can a holy, just God simply forgive an evil person when so many good people endure such pain at their hands?
Here is a clue – there are no good people.
The same evil that corrupted that “evil” person has corrupted you as well. Praise God that you made better decisions before you were saved and praise the power of God that empowers you to live a holy life now!
May God continue to bless and keep you and, as always, LET’S KEEP LOOKING UP!
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!
You can now subscribe and listen to the
“Churchtown Podcast Network!”
Available on both Apple Podcasts and Spotify, just search “Turning on the Lights!” and “Churchtown Church of God Sermons” – subscribe and then leave a rating and a review! More folks will see it!
*Audio and video are always posted on our YouTube channel @churchtownchurch (there are 1,100 videos there)
Spread the word about the community NARTHEX! It is really taking shape and folks are making many donations. We have to get the word out!
Church Calendar
Wednesday July 24 is chamily prayer at 7pm
Saturday July 27 Randy Simpson outside at 5.
July 29-August 2 is SERVE WEEK 2024! Sign-up today to help or if you need help!
August 2 is also our next First Friday!
SERVICE OF THE ORDINANCE DATES:
July 21
October 13th
November 27th – Thanksgiving Eve.
July 29-August 2 is SERVE WEEK 2024! Sign-up today to help or if you need help!
Remember, the single biggest reason given for why someone attends church for the first time is that a friend asked them!
As always, we continue in prayer for Churchtown, for our community, for the church universal, and for the lost everywhere.
God is good. God provides. Keep your eyes up and on the cross people.
Be well and do good, my friends. And, as always, Keep Looking Up! The lord comes!
REMEMBER THAT!
Opportunities!
We are always seeking individuals to be trained in technology. We would like to develop TEAMS that could rotate weekends.
There is always the opportunity to provide music – join up with the New Song Singers and / or talk to me about a special prelude or piece.
Gather-Grow-Become-Go
Churchtown Church of God
Sunday, July 21, 2024
Welcome to Churchtown!
We are glad you are here!
A Special Prelude from Our Music School Quartet
Opening Word
Ecclesiastes 2:12-17 (NLT)
#43, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”
“At the Cross”
349, “Trust and Obey”
Our Time In the Word
Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 (NLT)
“10,000 Reasons”
Our Time of Corporate Prayer
“The Lord’s Prayer”
The Final Word: Ephesians 5:15-20 (NLT)
As a “little” church, we are always asking the question, “What CAN we do?” Well, we can start by caring for the spiritual, emotional, and physical needs of each other.We CAN serve the next person God places before us.
We CAN invite that person to church!
We CAN be intentional about going to church and strengthening ourselves and the body.
We CAN serve our community and show who Christ is to those who do not know Him.
We CAN PRAY, PRAY, PRAY – and we can REMAIN FATIHFUL!
I Love Being Your Pastor and Your Friend,
Brian
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