Many people teach that the main purpose in going to church is to hear “what God says through the preacher.” Because that is church, they can stay home and watch church on TV. This morning, I realized that they were very wrong.
If you are lucky, you may hear a decent sermon on TV (Try Crossroad Baptist for a good one), but the sermon does not make church. I believe that church, the event, in its simplest form is the fellowship of believers. It is not the music that moves your mind into a suggestive state, it is not the tithe, it is not sitting in a pew and it is not the preacher. It is not even all of these. Without fellowship, the church might as well be just an indoctrination center.
This morning, watching Chuck Baldwin from New Hampshire, I realized that I have not been in a church with actual fellowship for a long time. Watching a sermon on the internet does not count.
Thankfully, I got in touch with a pastor in the area, and may meet with him next week. God is good.
In some ways I agree with you. However, being the idealist I am, I have to say that fellowship and celebration among believers, education, and doing the work of God should ideally be a daily thing. I view the Sabbath as a day we set aside for humbling, sober, solemn worship of God. However, being the huge hypocrite I am, I don’t do any of this.
Oh, and welcome to Keene!
- Paul O.
You are entirely right; perhaps I did not express myself very well
. I have tossed out most of what I have been taught, and have been trying to learn it on my own (which is almost entirely different in many cases). It is sometimes hard to express it concisely.
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Thanks for the comment and the welcome! I’ll see you around Keene then
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