Today we are getting back to the discipleship study. We are still on Week Eight - this time Tuesday - Five things you outta know about Church - the MAKEUP of the Church. Now this one is very very simple - and I touched on it in the Monday lesson as well.
Charlie calls it a spiritual hospital - and that’s a good analogy… The doctors and nurses are the sanctified and the saints - the patients are the lost and dying.
Imagine a hospital that doesn’t just heal, but those that are healed become doctors and nurses themselves! And when they move out of the area they join up with another hospital! Or maybe found a hospital! And because those that are healed join up as doctors and nurses it never ends!
Or at least it shouldn’t… When we lose a generation we lose a TON of ground - we fall behind and the world… well… the world begins to look like it does now! Transgenderism is on the rise; witchcraft and the occult; sex trafficking. I’m not saying the Church has perpetuated these crimes, but we the Church have not prevented them!
Charlie says to bring the spiritual sick to Him - to His church - and teach them. To clarify - we are to do this, for sure, but just a reminder (and I’m sorry if you’re tired of me harping on this) - it is NOT the job of the pastor to tell people about Jesus! Yes, he’s going to tell those that are here, but it’s NOT your job to go and get them in the door then turn it over to the pastor… BE a living witness! Tell people! Preach! Make disciples!
Charlie also uses a school as an analogy - the School of Christianity - which is very good when you consider that we come together to LEARN together!
I’m proud that our local church has continued to have more and more services! BC (Before Covid) we had Sunday School and morning ‘sermon’ - then Sunday night ‘sermon’ and Wednesday night ‘sermon.’ Now we have Sunday School with GREAT discussion and some new classes of age groups we didn’t have before! Then we have morning WORSHIP - not just a sermon, but singing, praising, learning! We do have people that come in for preaching only - I guess all churches have this - but the number of ones that are dedicated to coming for ALL of it is growing!
Sunday night we have a 5 o’clock discipleship class. We Baptists used to call this ‘training union’ - basically where we would gather and train to be disciples. I am currently leading this, and that’s where some of these blog posts (like this one) come from. Then we have an evening WORSHIP - not just a sermon.
We have a weekly Wednesday night service where the pastor brings a message of sorts, but it’s a lesson on something particular in the Bible and not just a sermon like you’d hear on Sunday morning. Every OTHER Tuesday night we have what some churches call ‘small group study’ - the ladies in one building and the men in another. These ‘small groups’ and our monthly business meeting are the only things we don’t stream online, so if you want to participate you have to come out in person - and you are WELCOME to do so!!!
Next Charlie lists the great commission as seen in Matthew. As before, I want to quote the verse BEFORE the one Charlie quotes…
I’ve added 18 - because Jesus said all power is given to Him. I think this was referring to the fact that He had conquered death and the grave - hades - she-ol - ALL of it! And because of this, and this alone, we are to go! We are to teach. We are to make disciples - not of ourselves, but of Him!
Next Charlie quotes this from Luke -
This is from the Parable of the Great Banquet. For context, it’s when the Master of the House wants to have a great banquet. He calls his friends and they have one excuse or another, so the servant was sent to bring in the poor, the maimed, the invalids and the blind. Yet there was STILL room - so then this verse is given.
Now I don’t believe we are to physically FORCE people to come to church, but we are to be persistent! We are to compel them! Do we REALLY believe that Jesus died for us, and for them? Do we REALLY care? If so, then why aren’t we shouting it from the rooftops?
The night I shared this, that morning our pastor had said something to the effect of - “If we really believed that Christ could come back TODAY we would be out there beating the bushes!!!”
I know I said it’s not the Doctor’s job - we are to live and preach as well - but at the VERY very least, invite them to church! Compel them to come to church! So that we can have great numbers? NO! So that they too can hear the Good News!!! The house mentioned in the verse is NOT the house of God - the church - but is the CHURCH! The thing all born again people are a part of - the thing that, if we are a member by trusting in Jesus and what HE did, will have it’s members live FOREVER in Heaven with God! Amen!
And lastly Charlie talks about if the Holy Spirit is not part of the church, then it truly is just a building!
Here’s a question for you… Can we have a ‘good spirit’ without the Holy Spirit?
Sure! We can get excited with the song service, or with seeing our friends, or having a fellowship supper! All this CAN be done without God even being in the room!
Charlie quotes this one -
So based on this verse, what does the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost do?
Teach us - when we study, the Holy Spirit will talk to us! Maybe not in a voice you can hear with your ears, but with your heart! And yes, even with your mind!
And Remind us - things we have read and studied before - the Holy Ghost will remind us of the things we have learned, especially when we are about to commit a sin! That is, unless we have stopped listening to Him…
I don’t normally quote Charlie on the slides, but I want to really bring this out… The opposite of these things, according to Charlie…
“teach us all things or…”
Can we really fall into the false doctrine of man? It surely happens all the time! Any church that follows a spirit or ‘lower case gee’ god may have power, but it’s a false doctrine! Satan was the one that tempted Eve and introduced a doctrine where ‘mankind’ could be their own god! That’s a false doctrine of man!
What about after the flood when God said to go and multiply and fill the earth? People congregated on the plains of Shinar and built what we call the Tower of Babel. Did God tell them to do this? NO! That was another false doctrine of man!
What about the Mosaic law? That was of God - but what about the oral traditions of the Jews at the time of Christ? Would you say that the Pharisees had turned away from God and had added their own laws? Who wrote them? Men you say? Hmm…
Charlie says the Bible teaches a church without the Holy Spirit will LOSE God’s Spirit - let’s take a look
Left thy first love, and do the first works - in Greek, this means the primary toils or labor - not the “first one of many,” but the MAIN one!
One more today, then we’ll pick back up…
Verse 13 - the word Antipas is Greek for “a Christian” - so I believe He is saying you have held the faith, even when you had people killed among you.
Verse 14 - Balaam - Mesopotamian which is symbolic of a ‘false teacher’
Balac - Balak - king of the Moabites.
So this is a false teacher in the midst. I don’t know that they are accused of the acts listed, or if it’s just the SPIRIT of Balaam - but either way, they have allowed this ‘spirit,’ so to speak, to enter the church!
Verse 15 - again, those among you that ‘hold the doctrine’ - or have a belief in - the Nicolaitans. This was mentioned in the letter to the church at Ephesus, but in that case they were avoiding this doctrine.
Bottom line - don’t allow those with false beliefs to teach the rest of the flock! If the entire church - Beech Grove specifically - doesn’t hold fast to the doctrine of CHRIST, then we are going to lose the Holy Spirit! So it’s up to US to study! Then study some more - then study some more - then help instruct others!
Verse 16 - Repent! When we realize this is happening here, we REPENT - NOW! - don’t wait - and correct it!!!
When a ship goes off course, does the captain allow it to sail off course so as not to upset the passengers at a sudden change in course? What if that course is carrying you into dangerous waters? What’s more important, the safety of the passengers or the COMFORT of the passengers?
So don’t avoid compelling people to come to Jesus! What good is being comfortable if it puts you in hell? Remember the verses about plucking out your eye? Or cutting off your arm? Comfort is fleeting! Eternity is forever!!!
You struck just the right note! I enjoyed this post so much; I believe the Holy Spirit is with us at Beech Grove and our increased educational endeavors are working for us and people watching us! Amen