Christians who avoid public worship/church services
Posted : 17 Jan, 2011 01:46 PM
I still cannot fathom why some Christians insist that believers in Christ DO NOT HAVE TO attend church services or "enter a building" to worship. In his or her mind, it is more than sufficient to satisfy this spiritual need inside the privacy of the home.
Is this the result of the so-called "Christians" who fail to read the Bible daily or do daily devotionals? Just wondering.
Hebrews 10 (New International Version, �2010)
Christ�s Sacrifice Once for All
1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming�not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
�Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
7 Then I said, �Here I am�it is written about me in the scroll�
I have come to do your will, my God.��
8 First he said, �Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them��though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9 Then he said, �Here I am, I have come to do your will.� He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
16 �This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.�
17 Then he adds:
�Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.�
18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
A Call to Persevere in Faith
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another�and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, �It is mine to avenge; I will repay,� and again, �The Lord will judge his people.� 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. 35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For,
�In just a little while,
he who is coming will come
and will not delay.�
38 And,
�But my righteous one will live by faith.
And I take no pleasure
in the one who shrinks back.�
39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
Footnotes:
Hebrews 10:7 Psalm 40:6-8 (see Septuagint)
Hebrews 10:16 Jer. 31:33
Hebrews 10:17 Jer. 31:34
Hebrews 10:30 Deut. 32:35
Hebrews 10:30 Deut. 32:36; Psalm 135:14
Hebrews 10:37 Isaiah 26:20; Hab. 2:3
Hebrews 10:38 Some early manuscripts But the righteous
Christians who avoid public worship/church services
Posted : 19 Jan, 2011 05:43 PM
yes leon there is a group dedicated to restoring the agricultural new moon calendar in Yisra'el right now and they have planted barely and watch it every year to see when it is abib so yes i do think we can tell when the days are
and sister we are to meet on the Sabbath as well as not doing work
to anyone and everyone else i never said that keeping the Torah would save you as a fact i said that nothing has EVER saved anyone but Grace but Grace it not right to be disobedient,,peace and love brothers and sister in our MESSIAH YAHSHUA
Christians who avoid public worship/church services
Posted : 19 Jan, 2011 10:10 PM
So Jesus is not in our midst if we assemble together? :rolleyes:
Church is not about a building, it is wherever we gather to worship, sing, preach, study, pray and eat. Yes, eat! The early church broke bread daily. :eat: Eating is actually a big part of fellowship and bind us together like family.
If we look at our relationship with Jesus as our husband like a bride does...it would not be looked at as a "have to" or else concept.
We can gather in a home, a building, a forest, a street corner, a boat, a field, a park, a campground or wherever and call it church because two or three followers of Jesus are there.
How do you pick one day of the week when the Book of Acts believers "the way" met every day? They went to the temple daily to say their customary 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. prayers, as was their custom.
Whenever we can gather and as often as we can, is great, but not the law.
Acts 2:46...The believers had a single purpose and went to the temple every day. They were joyful and humble as they ate at each others homes and shared their food. :glow:
Christians who avoid public worship/church services
Posted : 20 Jan, 2011 11:17 AM
We're asking the wrong questions here if we are asking what we CAN do and what we HAVE to do. The questions we should be asking are what is the WISEST thing to do, and what is the most PROFITABLE.
I don't have to go to church every Sunday, but I choose to because I have found it to be quite profitable. It's just another part of being actively involved in Christian community and building a closer relationship with God.
If you're trying to lose weight, you will see a benefit from working out, and you will see a benefit from controlling what you eat. You don't HAVE to do both, and you CAN do only one, but you will be missing out on a lot if you choose not to do both.
