Author	Thread: Do you have to go to church?
Admin	Do you have to go to church? Posted : 3 Mar, 2009 03:16 PM I have recently reconnected with an old youth pastor and another guy who was a youth leader in the same group and they are saying that they are following Jesus outside the institutional "church".I am a member of a church but I haven't attended in awhile.I can't seem to find any place where I feel comfortable. Post Reply
View Profile History	Do you have to go to church? Posted : 5 Mar, 2009 11:27 AM Ryan, When we first believe, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside us.It is indwelling us. This happens to all true believers, and is not an anointing, it is an abiding. I know this sounds like I am mincing words with you, but it is important. Christ was the anointed One. The Apostles had an anointing, they passed that anointing to many. In the old Testament you read of the Spirit of God descending ON someone, these are all one and the same with being anointed by the Holy Spirit. If you read the New testament carefully, you will find that the indwelling of the Spirit was a different thing, to help us in our daily walk, with a ministry of conviction. So, you may well be saved, and have the Holy Spirit living inside you, but never get anointed by the Spirit for a specific purpose. That is the difference in receiving the Spirit and being anointed by it. Some denominations call the anointing, being baptized in the Spirit, but whatever you call it, it is a separate occurrence. Any anointing from God will include power to accomplish His purpose. An anointing that causes you to know all things, is the anointing of a prophet. If the actual word anointing was not used, I might have agreed with you that this was referring to the indwelling of the Spirit. However an anointing is a big deal, even for a Christian. Blessings, Leon Post Reply
View Profile History	Do you have to go to church? Posted : 5 Mar, 2009 02:07 PM I still disagree 1 Cor 12:7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. this is saying that everyone is given the manifestation of the Spirit. 1 Cor 12:8-11 is talking about the different manifestations of the Spirit among which prophecy is one. 1 Cor 12:13 says for by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body Post Reply
View Profile History	Do you have to go to church? Posted : 5 Mar, 2009 02:33 PM Revelation 4:5 says that there are seven (7) Spirits of God. What do each of them do? If all this is done by the same one, are the others just witnesses? No, we are indwelt by one, and another gives the gifts (anointing). If you read the entire Bible it becomes obvious. In the OT, we learn about that anointing. It is spoken of a lot in the NT, but can be confusing because of the spirit that comes to live inside us. Blessings, Leon Post Reply
View Profile History	Do you have to go to church? Posted : 5 Mar, 2009 03:37 PM I don't claim to know exactly what the 7 Spirits of God are,but I am not sure they are the same as the Holy Spirit.It doesn't say anywhere that one or more of these 7 Spirits gives the anointing though. Post Reply
View Profile History	Do you have to go to church? Posted : 5 Mar, 2009 05:02 PM You don't have to, you Get to! and unless that church is stagnant and doesn't preach the Gospel and call you to repentance, then yeah, I probably wouldn't go either. However, lets take a peak at the early church in Acts 2:42-47 "42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles� teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved." so this is just after 3000(men) were saved and they all devoted themselves to the apostles teaching(this would be preaching too) as well as fellowship. And ALL who believed, not just two or three. One of the big things here is community, not just everyone serving one person, but all serving each other. In 46 They gathered at the temple together for corporate worship and scattered throughout in their homes. This was day by day too mind you. and throughout all of Acts the apostles were church planting, and much of the NT is letters to the church. I'm pretty sure it's important. By the sounds of it, you may have already made up your mind. but maybe this will help someone. Post Reply
View Profile History	Do you have to go to church? Posted : 5 Mar, 2009 05:25 PM JoshuaN, amen to Acts 2:42-47 we need to be serving each other and daily meeting together in each others homes.We should be devoting ourselves to the apostles teachings, and fellowship,and to the breaking of bread and prayer.We should be feeling a sense of awe and there should be signs and wonders..We should be together and have everything in common.We should sell our unneccessary belongings and give to the poor, we should be of one mind, and people should be getting saved daily.If you can find me a church near me where all these things are happening then I will go. Post Reply
View Profile History	Do you have to go to church? Posted : 5 Mar, 2009 05:37 PM Ryan, below are a few examples of the Spirit of God anointed someone. Nu 24:2, 1 Sam. 10:10, 1 Sam 11:6, 1 Sam 19:20, 23, 2 Ch 15:1. There are 98 references to the Spirit of God, and at least half talk about an anointing. I did not preview these, but I think you will find they apply. We can justify anything, so if you want to find a reason not to go to church, you can. Just like you can find verses that say it is okay to kill people, or have sex outside of marriage, they will be out of context, but you can find them. Blessings, Leon Post Reply
View Profile History	Do you have to go to church? Posted : 5 Mar, 2009 06:35 PM all the examples you give are of people who later became enemies of God's purpose and they were later killed or died with the exception of 2 Chronicles 15:1-7 Post Reply
View Profile History	Do you have to go to church? Posted : 5 Mar, 2009 08:07 PM Would you rather I just name a few instead? I named a few of those on purpose, so you could see that the power of the anointing can control your behavior, as in the case of Balaam. But is you would like examples of people who were anointed by the Spirit of God and still did good, What about Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Elisha, Samson, The Angel in the burning bush, Jesus, the Apostles. There are so many more, but I will stop for now. Over all, on the scriptures I gave you, I just picked the first few without even looking at them, but I did pick a couple on purpose, so you could understand the power behind an anointing. Blessings, Leon P.S. Ryan, you are free to worship God any way you choose, but if God didn't want you in church, why was it mandatory for all Israelites to take their sacrifices and prayers to Jerusalem? Or before that, to the tabernacle? God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Since God cursed Jerusalem, local churches were started in the tradition of the NT. There were several groups that rebelled against it, even then. Post Reply
View Profile History	Do you have to go to church? Posted : 5 Mar, 2009 08:20 PM I want to find a church close to me that I agree with. I just haven't. Post Reply

First

<< Previous  10

Page : 1 2 3 4

Next  10 >>

Last