Good morning to all. I pray this finds
you happy, healthy and prosperous. I hope you were able to take advantage of the
beautiful weekend we had and attend the church of your
choice.
If you are like me, you probably are
not quite old enough to remember when people use to stand on the street selling
newspapers and shouting “Extra, Extra, Read All About It”. Their purpose was not
only to draw attention to themselves, but to draw our attention to some specific
news.
Well, the news today is, “Churches are
Dying”. Does this surprise you? Did you know this was happening? Have you been
out driving and passed a building that use to once house the church? How do you
feel about this news? Does it effect you in any way? Once again, I am going to
look to the scriptures for some help on this topic.
2 Thessalonians 2:3 say,
“3 Let
no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling
away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,” 2
Timothy 4:2-4 says, “2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season.
Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time
will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own
desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves
teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned
aside to fables.” Ephesians 4:14-16 says, “14 that we should no longer be
children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by
the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but,
speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the
head--Christ-- 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what
every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part
does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” 2
Timothy 3:13 says, “13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse,
deceiving and being deceived.”
This topic saddens me greatly, as I'm sure it does our Lord. The
church is the people, not the buildings, but the buildings are closing up shop
and dropping of the face of the map because the people are leaving in droves. I
know of two country churches on the same road within a mile or two of each other
that have been closed for a long time now. One was sold to a biker gang and is
now painted black and has skulls and cross bones on it. The other church has
been remolded and now has someone living in it. Some churches are trying to hard
to please congregations and are cutting Wednesday night and Sunday night
services. Somehow we have condoned the transition from the Sabbath Day to only
needing to celebrate the Sabbath Hour. This is not, was not and never will be
God's plan, yet we just smile and roll along with the flow.
Does
reading this trouble you? Are you one of those that has left the church? Do you
know of some that have decided to leave the church?
People are fleeing in flocks. Is it because God has
changed? Has His rules, commandments, law or judgments changed over the years?
Has the bar been elevated higher than it use to be? The answer is NO. It is we
who have changed and cluttered up our schedules to the point that we have no
time to fit God in.
We
are too concerned that God or church may interfere with baseball, football,
soccer, basketball, softball, cheer leading, dance class, our favorite TV show
and the list could go on and on. Tell me, when we meet God face to face, do you
think He is going to be impressed by any of the time spent or accolades earned
by these activities that took time away from Him?
How
did we lose so much ground in just two or three generations? Two or three
generations back, people went to church and not because they were drug or
because they were being punished somehow, but because they wanted to. Because
they loved God, knew that all good things come from Him and wanted to not only
spend time with Him, but to give back to Him a little for all He had done for
them through the week. A few generations back, people planned their schedules
around the church. Now we think we should take God and force Him to come to us
and melt into the cracks of time where we may have a few minutes here or there
throughout the week.
To
tie all this in with the subject title and scriptures mentioned, I want you to
look around. God's churches are closing doors at an alarming rate, while men are
opening doors and calling them churches. God's word above tells us that when
people are no longer willing to endure the truth of sound doctrine, they will
find people who will tell them what they want to hear, follow them, make up
their own rules as they go along so that everything is tolerated and condoned
and in so doing they become deceived and deceive others as well, all in the name
of “church”. People are choosing places of entertainment, where they can be made
to feel good about themselves and the lives they live, where there are
activities to keep themselves and their children occupied rather than a place to
learn and hear the real word of God preached and taught. We have no trouble
finding 15-20 people to make up a softball team, but cannot get three or four to
go out on visitation. Do you not think this is grieving the Holy
Spirit?
Somewhere we have forgotten what a privilege it is
to be able to go to a house of God and worship without the threat of death as
some in this world still have. We have forgotten that it is our duty to work the
activities of life into the “life” God has given us, not to ask Him to
accommodate our schedule. We are told in the Bible that we are to love God with
all our heart, soul and mind. This means He is to be our first love. Is the life
you're living showing God that He is your first love? Are you one of the ones
responsible for a church closing?
Remember: There are two types of people, leaders
and followers. Look at yourself and decide which one you are and what results
that has on those around you. Living and dying, are you helping or
hurting?
Until next time, please continue to pray for each
other and me, as I continue to pray for each of you. Love in
CHRIST,
Brian Hanvey
Associate Pastor
Bethel Baptist Church
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