Let’s face it folks; it’s time to get real when it comes to the world of religion and our relationship to God. It’s time to be completely honest with ourselves and really assess what it is we’re doing here, and where it is we’re going when our life here is over. And if you’re somebody within the general public who is truly and sincerely serious about your eternal salvation, then you’re probably therefore also sick and tired of:
Get Real About Salvation
· T.V. preachers “picking and grinning” – grinning while they’re picking out and giving you nothing but the soft, ear-tickling, light-hearted “feel-good” stuff that only serves to make them more popular, instead of teaching a well-balanced biblical diet of that, plus what you most desperately need to hear in order to get right with God so you can go home to be with Him instead of to hell in the end.
· Being challenged the hardest only to open your wallet in order to subsidize some of those televangelist’s self-indulgent lifestyles, instead of being honestly challenged to open your heart in order to accept and practice God’s sin-denying righteousness and eternity-granting lifestyle.
· Hearing denominational leaders who loudly and proudly proclaim that the “miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit” – gifts such as speaking in tongues, instantly healing the desperately sick, and raising the dead – are still in effect today, but whom you know from very painful personal experience, allow loved one after loved one of yours to still somehow get sick and die without healing them as they claim they can.
· Attending “church,” only to be entertained by concerts, rodeos, drama-skits and preacher story-telling – all of man-made origin and none of which can save your eternal soul – instead of attending bible class and worship services exclusively designed to educate and enlighten by “book, chapter, and verse,” solid bible gospel preaching – which is the only thing that can save your eternal soul (Romans 1:16).
And if you additionally, truly believe that the bible is the timeless, eternal, divinely-inspired, inerrant, and all-authoritative word of almighty God Himself, delivered to save, sanctify, and make a weak and sinful people able to perfectly stand before that same almighty God just as it claims to be (II Timothy 3:14-4:4); then you are also most certainly therefore, sick and tired of:
· Attending man-made denominations which you cannot find in existence or referred to by name anywhere within that sacred and all-sufficient word…
· Attending man-made denominations which promote and practice as doctrines and commandments (Matthew 15:7-9; Mark 7:5-13; Galatians 1:6-10; I Timothy 4:1-5; II Peter 2:1-3), those teachings which are also never found anywhere within that sacred and all sufficient word – teachings such as instruments being played in the church’s religious hymns of praise and worship offered up to God; saying a prayer to welcome Jesus into your heart as the process by which they say a sinner is saved and forgiven; and etc…
· Or, attending a man-made denomination which teaches those things which are expressly and explicitly condemned and forbidden within that same, sacred, and all-sufficient word of God… things like:
- Calling your religious leaders “Father” (Matthew 23:9).
- Claiming one can be saved by “faith alone” (James 2:26).
- Insisting that “once saved, always saved” (or that one cannot “fall from grace”) is a viable, biblical teaching, when it is most assuredly not (Hebrews 6:4-6, 10:26-31; Galatians 5:4).
- Saying that female preachers, teachers, pastors, and song and prayer leaders leading over men in the church assembly is somehow acceptable to God (I Corinthians 14:33-37; I Timothy 2:11-15).
- Teaching that baptism doesn’t serve as one of the essential elements which initially saves a person, and that being saved can somehow occur either before or without it (I Peter 3:21).
If that’s you, then perhaps it’s time to get serious enough about your salvation to come by and experience us…
We are the church of Christ. And we are in the bible (Romans 16:16). We are not here to “tickle your ears,” while avoiding the “tough stuff” (John 6:60-69; II Timothy 4:1-5), but to teach and challenge people – including ourselves – with the “whole council of God” (Acts 20:26-27), to become the whole people of God that God desires. We do this in order to truly save sinners’ souls, instead of simply making them “feel good” so they’ll send us their money, while they are happily, pleasantly, and comfortably but ignorantly headed down the wide road to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14; II Peter 2:1-3). We understand that truly and fully being transformed into the image of Christ (Romans 12:1-2) takes a whole lot of dedicated time, effort, prayer, and bible study (II Peter 1:2-11), and so we don’t want to waste either yours or our time doing anything less or else (Ephesians 5:15-16).
And speaking of money, we’re not here to steal yours. That’s not what we’re all about at all. In fact, we teach the whole “book, chapter, and verse” truth about that as well; and that is this:
· Tithing, or giving ten percent, was part of God’s Old Agreement (or Testament) with the Jews (Exodus 27; Deuteronomy 14).
· The Old Covenant (or agreement) was done away with by Christ on the cross when He instituted the New Covenant in His blood (II Corinthians 3:5-18; Colossians 2:8-14; Hebrews 8:7-13, 9:15-17).
· Therefore, the Old Testament having been thus done away with, under the New Covenant the amount or percentage a person is to give was not important enough to God for Him to anywhere specify. The only thing that mattered enough for God to specify regarding giving was the attitude with which one gives whatever amount they have decided between themselves and Him (II Corinthians 8:1-5, and 9:5-7)… But He also made it abundantly clear that the privilege of supporting His church, belongs only to His people – that is to say, only to those who are specifically members of His Son’s one, New Testament church (Acts 2:36-47; 4:32-33; I Corinthians 16:1-2). And so, no; we neither ask nor rudely beg our friends and visitors to open up their wallets and give their hard-earned money to support the work our Lord gave us to support. “Going to church” was never meant to be like attending a man-made movie or concert, both of which were designed exclusively to make money. Attendance doesn’t require you to “buy a ticket” here.
The bible says that there will be ‘many’ who will prefer the wide and easy way that leads to destruction – including many false teachers who are nothing more than wolves in sheep’s clothing. This, while there will be only a ‘few’ who will want to truly listen to, and then faithfully carry out, the commands of Jesus. (All of this can, and should be personally verified by you from your own bible: please read Matthew 7:13-27.)
Therefore, the real question that every one of us must seriously answer is simply this: To which group of people do we personally prefer to belong? To the ‘many,’ who are more concerned with being momentarily comfortable than with being biblically correct? Or the ‘few,’ who are willing to faithfully listen to, and then put into practice the words of Jesus no matter what? That choice, God leaves completely up to us as individuals.
For those ‘many’ (as the bible calls them) who are comfortable enough with the man-made but scripturally-foreign commandments and doctrines of men that they are truly willing to face God based on them, instead of truly doing the will of the Father as outlined in His word, well, that’s their choice. We mean no disrespect. God’s people have been dealing with such for thousands of years (Acts 13:46).
But for those ‘few’ who are serious enough about their salvation and relationship with God to truly want to grow closer to Him by learning and living His word exactly as He taught it, we earnestly encourage you to join the rest of us this coming Sunday morning as we gather together to humbly but thoroughly study the word of God in “book, chapter, and verse” format, and then to worship God in “spirit and truth,” exactly as we see outlined in His word. This, because we are seeking with all we’ve got and with all God said, to be the kind of worshippers the Father Himself is seeking (John 4:23-24).
Please read through Matthew 7:13-27 again. Do you want to be part of the ‘few’… or the ‘many?’ The choice… is yours… We will plan to see the serious “few” come by to be with the rest of their like-minded counterparts and contemporaries this coming Sunday morning.