What should we believe?: Difference between revisions

What should we believe? (view source)

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 By questioning and testing our interpretation of God’s Word, we come to know what we believe and why we believe it, so that the grammar of faith becomes our own language of worship through which we interpret all of reality and live in the world.  Theology is the concern of every believer because it is the grammar of the Christian faith.  Learning God’s Word—including its doctrine—is a nonnegotiable responsibility of our new citizenship as Christians. The baptized are privileged and obligated to learn the language of Zion.
-Our English word disciple, in fact, comes from the Latin noun discipulus, meaning “student.”  Thus, Paul writes,
+Our English word "disciple", in fact, comes from the Latin noun discipulus, meaning “student.”  Thus, Paul writes,
 :''I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Ro 12:1–2)<ref>Michael Horton, The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), pp. 13-24.</ref>
+=What church should we go to?=
+In Paul's day, there were churches that were legalistic like the message (the Galatians) and church where people were getting drunk at church (see 1 Corinthians 11:21).  But there were also good churches (Ephesus) and good leaders (like Timothy and Titus).
+People in the message are used to following someone but the person we need to follow is the Holy Spirit.  We are constantly asked "If Bro. Branham wasn't the fulfillment of Malachi 4:5, then who is?"  Our response is always to ensure we have a proper understanding [[The Fulfillment of Malachi 4:5|of Malachi 4:5]].
+So if the message is not the way (it definitely isn't based on our research), where should we go to church?  According to what we were taught in the message, all churches outside the message are weak, ineffectual and filled with people that are actually worshiping Satan.  Is this true?  Or could this simply be another false teaching by message ministers?
+There is an old song that says:
+:''The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
+:''I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
+:''That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
+:''I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.
+Jesus will never leave you.  If you are a child of God, the Holy Spirit has been promised to lead you.  The job of the Holy Spirit is to make Jesus real, and when he is doing that in a church, the result is revival.
+When the Holy Spirit is actively leading a church, there are five things the church is characterized by, and it comes directly from Jesus being real:
+. The first is transcendent worship. People sense the presence of God. People are there to meet God. The purpose of worship is not primarily teaching or evangelism or fellowship; it’s to worship.
+. Secondly, people begin to study the Word because the truth begins to shine in their lives, as we just said.
+. Thirdly, people’s barriers come down to sharing openly with other people because Jesus is real to them, and you no longer have to hide from people, so intimate fellowship and dynamic community and deep friendships develop.
+. Fourthly, there is aggressive outreach and evangelism, and many people are converted. People who have no interest in religion at all find themselves attracted to the church and converted.
+. Fifthly, there is a major impact on the society around, turning this society more like the kingdom of God, that is, a society of justice and mercy.
+These fie things: worship, deep teaching of the Word, intimate fellowship, aggressive evangelism, and compassionate social concern. When you find a church that’s strong on all of them, it’s a sign of the operation of the Spirit of God.
+The tendency is for most churches to have one of them only and to be very, very condescending toward anyone else who doesn’t have their one.  You see, because if you’re a church with great, sound doctrine, but your worship isn’t very good, your fellowship isn’t very good, your social concern isn’t very good, they look at other churches, and the only thing they tend to look at is they say, “But do they have our sound doctrine?” They’ll reject you, even though in every other area that is strong, they’re weak.
+The same thing happens with fellowship and with worship. The one vitamin you have tends to make the church haughty and look down its nose at other people who don’t have their vitamin.
+We said when you have all five, it’s a sign of the work of the Spirit, and the five continually change one another. Those five things are actually constantly stimulating each another. You really can’t have one without the others, because real worship always leads to teaching, fellowship, evangelism, and social concern, and real teaching always leads to real worship, evangelism, fellowship, and social concern, and real evangelism always leads, and so on. Those five things are interrelated. When they’re there, they stimulate one another, and they encourage the renewal dynamic.
+A church that wants to be this kind of church is ruthless in making sure it is doing what God says in every one of those five areas, that it’s finding people with gifts in those areas and unleashing them to do the work, that it’s stimulating each one of those areas and they inter-stimulate one another. That’s the way it’s supposed to go.<ref>Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).</ref>
+Find a church with all five of these characteristics.  They are out there but you have to go looking.
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