The purpose of the Church.
People have all kinds of ideas about churches and why they should exist. If we were to survey people in churches and ask them, "What is the main purpose of the church, or why does the church exist?" we will get a number of answers. People start churches for all kinds of reasons that miss the biblical point.
Many would suggest, for example, that the purpose of the church is fellowship. It's a place to make friends, to provide activity for the family, to enjoy friendships, to enjoy spiritual activities together, recreation, cultivate relationships, to work together in families, and raising children, etc. And sort of hang out together until death or the rapture.
Most Christians don’t have a problem talking to God, they neglect to do it at times and remember very quickly when challenging situations arise, but many Christians don’t listen to the Lord.
Hearing God
(Part 3).
God speaks through creation and nature.
God speaks through his son.
On rare occasions God speaks with an audible voice.
God speaks through his Word.
God speaks in a still small inner voice in our heart and mind.
God speaks through people.
God speaks through circumstances.
God speaks through dreams and visions.
God speaks through Angels.
God speaks through signs and wonders.
God speaks through the Godly example of others.
God speaks through music.
Satan says look around you, everything you see is an accident, it came from nothing.
There is no designer and you are just a highly evolved animal.
Hebrews 1:1-2.
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.
Satan gives power to this man some time in the near future and he will deceive the vast majority to pledge allegiance to him so that he can bring about world peace. Even the Jews will claim him as their Messiah.
1 Timothy 1:5-7.
The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk.
3. God speaks through our conscience.
There is no substitute for obedience.
God does not look at the good works we do, but solely at our obedience.
1 Samuel 15:22. To obey is better than sacrifice…
Satan has got counterfeits to lead man astray, false religions, false doctrines false theories presented as science.
He conversed with Adam in the garden of Eden.
He answered Job.
He told Noah to build an ark.
He promised Abraham a son.
He spoke to Moses in a burning bush.
He spoke to Samuel when he was just a young boy.
Paul heard His voice on the way to Damascus.
5. God speaks to us through his Word.
When Satan tempted Jesus, he used Scripture.
Matthew 4:5-6.
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down.
For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone”.
Titus 2:1-4.
You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.
Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children.
Listen to the mature Christians mentors.
Mark 8:31-33.
He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
Sadly it often takes adverse circumstances for God to get our attention.
God uses pain to get our attention.
To summarize my story. I stepped into suffering at birth. My physical body is a billboard for my pain. This has brought mocking, cruel jokes, stares, and the constant feeling that I am not like anyone else that I meet.
I have never been able to hide. Many people can bury their pain, but my heartache is written all over my two empty sleeves.
Those sleeves tell a story without my mouth ever saying a word.
My pain almost swallowed me. But Christ showed me how much greater he was than my empty sleeves.
I used to think that being born without arms was the most horrible thing that could happen to a person.
In Christ, he has helped me say that the worst and most painful thing that has ever happened to me is also the best thing that has ever happened to me.
I am thankful for my pain. All of the frustration that has come with it has reaped a bounty that I never could have produced on my own.
God stepped in and carried me along in my weakness, letting me taste his strength, grace, and love in new ways. In my pain, he has magnified so many of his attributes.
Motivational speaker Nick Vujicic, 39, was born to Serbian immigrants in Melbourne in 1982. Throughout his childhood he was bullied for his tetra-amelia syndrome but became a born-again Christian and his faith got him through.
Vujicic believes it was God's plan for him to suffer so that he could inspire others. In 2008 he did his first TV interview and has since taken the world by storm giving speeches and talks all over the planet.
When the world says you're not good enough get a second opinion, Vujicic told 60 Minutes in an interview.
He recently achieved his biggest dream of starting a family with his wife. The Christian minister married his wife Kanae Miyahara in 2012 and since then the pair have had four children, two boys and identical twin girls.
2 Chronicles 7:14-15.
When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
Satan will also speak through difficult circumstances to bring discouragement as he tried to with Job.
Job 2:7-9.
So, Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself
with it as he sat among the
ashes.
His wife said to him,
“Are you still maintaining
your integrity?
Curse God and die!”
At Pentecost, Peter quoted the prophecy in Joel.
Acts 2:17. In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams
Genesis 15:1.
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.
Jacob saw a vision with the ladder going up to Heaven.
Joseph had dreams.
Daniel had visions.
Isaiah, Ezekiel, Amos and Zechariah just to mention some, had visions where God spoke to them
Acts 9:10-12.
In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias.
The Lord called to him in
a vision, Ananias!
Yes, Lord, he answered.
The Lord told him, Go to
the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for
a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.
In a vision he has seen a
man named Ananias come and place his hands on
him to restore his sight.
Acts 16:9.
A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.
Gen. 20:3-5.
But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman. Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he said, Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? Did he not say to me, She is my sister, and didn't she also say, He is my brother? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.
Genesis 41:1-7.
When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing by the Nile, when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds.
After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank.
And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.
Genesis 41:1-7.
He fell asleep again and had a second dream: Seven heads of grain, healthy and good, were growing on a single stalk.
After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted, thin and scorched by the east wind.
The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy, full heads. Then Pharaoh woke up; it had been a dream.
Daniel 2:1-3.
In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled, and he could not sleep.
So, the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed. When they came in and stood before the king, he said to them, I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means.
There are many reports of Muslims converting to Christianity due to having a dream or experiencing a vision in which Jesus appeared to them.
The accounts vary somewhat, but they virtually all have the following aspects in common:
Jesus appears to them.
Jesus tells them to find and speak to a person at a certain place at a certain time.
When the Muslim follows Jesus’ instructions, he or she finds the person at exactly the right time and place, and the person explains who Jesus truly is and presents the gospel.
The Muslim believes that Jesus is the Messiah and Savior and places his or her faith in Him, renouncing Islam.
Ecclesiastes. 5:3.
As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words.
Even Israel's spiritually blind leaders had dreams.
Isaiah. 56:10.
Israel's watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep.
Jeremiah 23:16-18 &28.
This is what the Lord Almighty says: do not listen to what the Prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes.
They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They keep saying to those who despise me, the Lord says you will have peace and to those who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts they say, no harm will come to you.
But which of them has stood in the council of the Lord to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word?
The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?
Hebrews 2:1-4.
We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.
For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?
Judges 13:8,15.
Then Manoah prayed to the Lord: Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.
Luke 1:11-13.
Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him:
Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.
Luke 2:8-11.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
Luke 2:8-11.
This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.
Daniel 9:20-23.
While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice.
He instructed me and said to me, Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision
Joseph the Father of Jesus was warned and directed by an Angel in a Vision.
Matthew 2:19-20.
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead
The Angel Moroni is an angel whom Joseph Smith reported as having visited him on numerous occasions, beginning on September 21, 1823.
According to Smith, the angel was the guardian of the golden plates, buried in the hill Cumorah near Smith's home in western New York;
Latter Day Saints believe the plates were the source material for the Book of Mormon.
Galatians 1:6-8.
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel which is really no gospel at all.
Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one, we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!
2 Corinthians 11:13-15.
For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
Hebrews 2:1-4.
We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?
This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
Matthew 11:20-24
Then Jesus began to denounce
the towns in which most of his
miracles had been performed,
because they did not repent.
Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to
you, Bethsaida!
For if the miracles that were performed in you had been
performed in Tyre and Sidon,
they would have repented long
ago in sackcloth and ashes.
But I tell you, it will be more
bearable for Tyre and Sidon
on the day of judgment than
for you.
Bethsaida was a small town in Galilee best known in the Bible as the birthplace of three of Jesus’ disciples: Phillip, Peter, and Andrew (John 1:44–45; 12:21).
Some scholars suggest that there were two towns called Bethsaida during the time of Jesus, as two cities’ having the same or a similar name was common in those days.
The Bethsaida most often referred to in Scripture was located near where the Jordan River flows into the Sea of Galilee on the north side of the sea.
Bethsaida was the scene of several miracles, enough that Jesus could say, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes” (Matthew 11:21).
Bethsaida has come to represent those who have heard the gospel, understood God’s plan of salvation, and rejected it. Jesus implied that their eternal punishment would be harsher than that of those who did not have such a privilege (Matthew 11:22).
Gotquestions.org
One of those miracles performed in Bethsaida was the restoration of sight to a blind man (Mark 8:22–26).
It is also likely that the feeding of the 5,000 took place near Bethsaida (Luke 9:10–17).
It was also the site of one of Jesus’ most famous miracles: walking on water (Mark 6:45–52). He had sent His disciples on ahead on the Sea of Galilee toward Bethsaida while He spent some time in prayer.
Late that night, a strong wind made rowing the boat difficult. In the midst of the disciples’ efforts to keep the boat afloat, they saw a figure coming toward them on top of the waves! They were terrified until Jesus got in the boat with them and the waves instantly calmed. It was on His way to Bethsaida that Jesus walked on water.
Gotquestions.org
Matthew 11:20-24
And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades.
For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.
But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.
Capernaum was a city located on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee.
It is significant in Scripture because Capernaum was the chosen home city of Jesus after He was driven from Nazareth by the religious officials (Luke 4:16, 28–30).
Capernaum was also the home of Peter and Andrew and where Jesus called them to follow Him
(Matthew 4:18–20).
Jesus also found Matthew, a tax collector in Capernaum, and called him to follow (Matthew 9:9).
Gotquestions.org
Jesus referred to Capernaum often and did many of His miracles there
(Matt 8:5; John 6:17–21).
He also taught in the synagogue (John 6:59;
Mark 1:21).
Although Capernaum had been the site of so many proofs of Jesus’ identity, the people there refused to believe, and He included it in a denunciation of several cities: “And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades” (Luke 10:13–15).
Gotquestions.org
It was in Capernaum that Jesus healed the centurion’s son (Matt 8:5–13),
The nobleman’s son
(John 4:46–53),
Simon Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 1:30–31), and
The paralytic (Matt 9:1–2).
In Capernaum, Jesus cast out an unclean spirit
(Mark 1:21–25), raised Jairus’s daughter to life,
and healed the woman with the bleeding issue
(Mark 5:21–42).
Gotquestions.org
The city of Capernaum represents many who have been exposed to the gospel, may enjoy going to church, and consider themselves Christians by association.
The familiarity with Jesus and His Word gives them a false sense of assurance that they are right with God when in reality Jesus will one day say to them, “Away from me, you evildoers! I never knew you” (Matthew 7:21–23).
The people of Capernaum heard and saw what Jesus did and said, yet they refused to believe
(John 1:12; 12:42).
Gotquestions.org
Exodus 7:10-13.
So, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts:
Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard, and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.
2 Thessalonians 2.
The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing.
2 Thessalonians 2.
They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
Matthew 5:13-16.
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
When it comes to the gospel, words are always necessary, but our words must be seen in our lives.
Wives being a godly example to unsaved husbands
1 Peter 3:1-2.
Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.
1 Peter 2:12-15.
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.
For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.
Romans 2:21-24.
You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
As it is written “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you”.
John 6:44.
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them.
Drawing near to God is not something we initiate; it is responding to God drawing us.
Two Biblical ways to respond or open the door is through praise and prayer.
Psalm 22:3.
The Lord inhabits the praise of His People.
Music, has long been associated with the Devil, Hell and the endless hoards of hellish minions that live there.
Now while many musicians and acts have claimed to be in league with the Dark Lord in the past, only one has the dubious honour or co-writing a song with Lucifer himself. Giuseppe Tartini.