home group meetings, not one-man shows

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hopeingod

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Jul 28, 2013
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I am solidly for knocking down all the Christian religious structures where man has set himself as the one-man show in most of them, where so-called ministries turn into occupations and finances take precedence over everything.

It is time the body of Christ rises up against these men who create their own kingdoms, hold conventions, and run off with your money to construct their own mansions and buy $20 million jets.

The body of Christ needs to begin operating in the gifts and knowledge God has given to every individual. Certainly, the young in Christ will need sound doctrine taught to them, but even they can seek God to have something to share in a home group.

Frank Viola has written books on this needed change, as have others, and it's not easy reading for some folks, but I believe it is time to start over, to remove these televangelists and their wannabes out of our lives. It is time we take control through the Holy Spirit's guidance and our desire to do all things in moderation.
 

Rocky Wiley

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hopeinGod,


Totally agree with you.

People will believe that there was, once upon a time, false churches. What they don’t understand is the church that many of them go to today, most likely, came out of those false churches and many of of those brought along the errors in teachings that we still have today.

Most seem to think the majority of religious people are right, but the scribes and pharisees at the time of Jesus, were the majority of religious people and they were very wrong.

We need good bible study groups in order to wipe out the false doctrines of our churches today. One will have to study for themselves to find that God does not need for one to get a degree in theology to understand his word. Below are listed the major points people do not understand.

1. The Old Testament was written to the Jews.

2. The Four Gospels are about their Messiah, Jesus, coming to save them, not the Gentiles.

3. The book of Acts, is about the Apostles preaching to the Jews, and then later, the Gentiles.

4. The Epistles are letters to the early churches, or early Christians, not our churches of today.

5. The book of Revelation is about the coming in judgment of God against the disobedient Jews that Daniel had also written about.

6. God gave us his word so that we might understand the above.

7. All of the above points require a paradigm shift for most.

Believe God? Believe his word!
 

hopeingod

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Jul 28, 2013
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Rocky Wiley said:
Then what do we do with this verse?
Matthew 13:52
Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.
Both books -- the New and Old Testaments --are for our learning. For we are to search the Scriptures, all of them, all of which testify of Jesus, and are applicable to the believer.
Arnie Manitoba said:
I think the televangelists have pretty much put themselves out of business.
If that is the case, Arnie, then you might be unaware of the conventions put on by the Reformed groups led by R.C. Sproul. While driving home from work one day, I was listening to Christian radio when an invitation was made to call the radio station in an effort to be the second caller. I was, and won two tickets to attend one of their conventions held in the largest church I've been to in my life. Easily, it held 5,000 plus people. The cost of the three or four day convention (I don't recall) had I paid out of my own pocket would have been $169 per attendee. I gave the second ticket to a friend who went along with me. And the messages were so very, very basic. I only wanted to attend because I'd never heard Ravi Zacharias in person. Taking along with me my tablet, I was able to record his entire message, not the greatest quality; still, I placed it on my youtube account. Sproul and his friends took in $850,000 just in entrance fees, not to mention book and other item sales.
 

Rocky Wiley

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Rocky Wiley, on 11 Jun 2014 - 04:08 AM, said:
Rocky Wiley said:
Then what do we do with this verse?
Matthew 13:52
Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.
Both books -- the New and Old Testaments --are for our learning. For we are to search the Scriptures, all of them, all of which testify of Jesus, and are applicable to the believer.
hopeinGod,

Maybe I wasn't clear in my points, the bible was not written to us, but yes it was written for us. There is a difference.
 

Madad21

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Dec 28, 2013
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We dont seem to care as much for fellowship as we used too. The effort isnt there anymore.
There was a time of great revival which has now past, during that time there was as great Pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit, we all remember it well.
But this new era has brought a distance between us, inspiration is dwindling and Faith is just another interest. Arguing from scripture has become a hobby while going to Church has become a chore.

The older ones may sit around scratching their heads asking themselves why?
While the younger ones are growing desensitized and jaded by a world that just envelops them at every turn.

If you dont turn up to your home group one night who calls to see if your ok? and if you miss two nights, who calls around to find out whats going on?

Nobody

You might bump into people in the supermarket and they might say "hey havent seen you around" but that's about it.
Nobody wants to know because nobody cares.

Who comes up to you and says "Hey I have a home group on Tuesday nights, it would be awesome to have you join us."
And if you dont show up who says "Hey is everything ok, I was looking forward to seeing you, can you come this Tuesday?"

Nobody does

I have asked this question before and I have had the reply, "oh well its their life, if they don't want show up its up to them, nothing I can do about it."

But that's just a cop out, shouldn't we at least find out whats keeping that person, maybe its trouble at home, guilt or shame all the reasons they need fellowship.
But it goes untouched because nobody wants to deal with it.

There are some Churches locally who run groups at different times, I have herd about these groups and have even asked about them. I have not received even one invite. and I have talked to pastors saying I need a home group can you help me out, I have even reminded them that I am still looking and they say "Oh thats great we will be happy to have you, I will get back to you."
You know why, because they are all familiar with each other and want to keep their little group to themselves, outsiders not welcome. You would be very honored to be asked to join.

This is the way of the Church now, iphones everywhere instead of Bibles, home groups are private affairs and you have to be accepted to join. Its all about whats happening after Church, and how quickly you can get out of the parking lot.

This is the last church.


by: Charles Swindoll
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes.
 

HammerStone

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If that is the case, Arnie, then you might be unaware of the conventions put on by the Reformed groups led by R.C. Sproul. While driving home from work one day, I was listening to Christian radio when an invitation was made to call the radio station in an effort to be the second caller. I was, and won two tickets to attend one of their conventions held in the largest church I've been to in my life. Easily, it held 5,000 plus people. The cost of the three or four day convention (I don't recall) had I paid out of my own pocket would have been $169 per attendee. I gave the second ticket to a friend who went along with me. And the messages were so very, very basic. I only wanted to attend because I'd never heard Ravi Zacharias in person. Taking along with me my tablet, I was able to record his entire message, not the greatest quality; still, I placed it on my youtube account. Sproul and his friends took in $850,000 just in entrance fees, not to mention book and other item sales.
That's a bit misleading because it operates in the vacuum of not covering what is done with those funds. For instance, I've not seen the images of Sproul with luxurious homes and fancy jets. Instead, I am pretty sure that he broadcasts all across the country, other countries and carries out many ministries. They run a website, stream 24/7 music and teaching, etc. All of these things cost money. So, are you indicting Sproul for not just praying these things to fall out of the sky or what?

I don't understand why if something gets big then it immediately becomes wrong or demonic. By that definition, the Holy Spirit was in trouble in Acts because where do you think the 3,000+ converted in a day went to?

I'm really not trying to be as rude as this post comes across, but this is an issue that frustrates me greatly.
 

StanJ

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May 13, 2014
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IMO, most will agree with your OP.
I go back to the days of the PTL Club and Jim Baker. Also when Jimmy Swaggart was popular on TV. IMO, the good news of the gospel is meant to be conveyed personally and NOT over TV.
Although Billy Graham has done TV, it is only in conjunction with His actuals crusades, and they have a great follow up team that ensures converts get plugged into local churches.
The old time tent meetings were great, but don't be fooled into thinking they were immune to the temptation of self aggrandizement.
This will always be an issue when a man/woman is involved.
 

aspen

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well, they are running coorporations.......i am not willing to condemn them. they are working hard and capitalism often rewards those who work hard if they have the ability to be organized and consistent.

there organizations may help people become better Christians or better capitalists

what i know for sure is that all big coorporations promote consumerism for the purpose of controlling who gets to belong to the one percent and who gets to support them.

mega churches, the Vatican and Walmart all have a role to play.

i love church and i love religion, but make no mistake, i am not an evangelist for mega religion - love is all that matters and Christ did it best - everyone else false short. no need to be fatalist about it or be surprised
 

Arnie Manitoba

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Jesus and a handful of apostles began the early church and had thousands and thousands of new believers in a very short time.

I am sure they were considered a mega church without a lot of one-on-one interaction .

Especially considering it turned Judaism on its ear at the same time , this was a radical new religion.

I have been involved in both small home groups and congregations of 600 , both have their good and bad points , I think the whole idea is to find what suits the individual

The early churches , plus the 7 churches in revelation had huge differences between them , but in the end they are all christian.

It is people themselves who are different , thus they migrate to settings they prefer , some are small , some are large groups.

I agree with the opening post about too many christian "one man shows" and Learjets , but if you really want to see masses of people spending billions of dollars , hero worship , and Boeing 757 jets , all we have to do is turn on the sports channel ... everyone seem to accept that readily enough

Spend the next week observing how many people , including Christians , are consumed by the latest baseball , football , basketball , hockey and soccer games.

That worries me more than a few thousand who attend Joel Osteen for 30 minutes on Sunday.

As usual our priorities are upside down ... and Christians love to bash other Christians ... that is not very sporting is it ?
 

FHII

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I like the intentions, but question the methods. Don't despise leadership. The leadership must be right, and truly annointed by God and for the Body of Christ (even Pharoah was annointed).

I don't despise any Man of God (if the truly are one) for having material things. David had quite a kingdom and so did his son, Solomon. But use it wisely. And don't despise them just because they are rich. I fully respect Creflo Dollar because he built his empire on his own doing, not that of his church. Gene Scott as well. I respect Gene more cause I think he had a purer message. But if you look into how they got their wealth, it wasn't on the back of the flock. And if they did, so what? Yea, seriously! You'd be surprised on what the Bible says about it once you stop cherry picking verses!

FInd a Man of God who truly is annointed by God and is truly in it for the love of God. I can't give you a checklist, but it is important that you find him. YOU WILL NOT BE SAVED WITHOUT HIM!!! No where in the Bible does it suggest that you can be saved without a preacher.

And don't despise a preacher due to his wealth. Perhaps God is blessing him. There is only one way to know. Only one! Is he preaching the Truth (look up what the Bereans did) and all of it?