be very careful

There is a church on every corner in most cities that we visit. Some are very beautiful. Some are old, some are new........ sprawling and very industrial, designed to take care of large numbers of people. Some are very ornate, gothic, overly done.

My favorite would be a white clapboard building, rectangle in shape, very simple with a lovely steeple on top. No stained glass....just windows with panes that are sparkling clean in the morning sun.

Simple wooden pews would provide seating for the believers who come to worship God, and the preacher would stand behind a nondescript wooden pulpit.

But it is not the building that makes a church.

The true church consists of a group of people who are like-minded in gathering to worship the true and living God. They congregate together in a building for this purpose.....to hear the word of God taught clearly in a way that they can understand and to let their hearts rejoice over the amazing truth they are hearing.

The word of God is what changes people.

Sadly, most churches today are all about everything but the preaching of God's word.

The Bible warned that this day was coming in 2 Timothy 4:3 -4

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths."

O people, I pray that we would desire every morsel of God's truth....that we would crave it as a thirsty man craves water in the dessert. That we would ingest it's warnings as well as it's beautiful promises.

I wrote these quotes down to use in my blog a long time ago but I didn't write down the author.

They are not my own....I pass them on to you because they are so profound.

"Be very particular who you hear, where you go, and what you do in all matters of your own personal worship."

"Do not put up with a grain of error merely for the sake of a pound of truth. Do not tolerate even a little false doctrine."

This one is from John Piper......"The purpose of sound doctrine is to build and sustain great trust in God."

Be very careful...............