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Chapter 3 - Page 3 -
Are The "Traditional" Meetings Accomplishing Anything?
By Adam Bartlett
Acts 2
2: And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting
46: And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
47: Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
Acts 5
42: And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
We know from chapter 1 that they were meeting in a house of sorts and the other verses indicate that this was the case. There is no mention in the book of Acts of the first Christians ever erecting a building for their gatherings. They were teaching and preaching Christ in the homes of other believers that opened up their houses for this purpose. It is also quite interesting that when they were threatened to stop preaching and teaching in the name of Christ that they got together and prayed for more boldness to proclaim the message even louder. I cannot imagine that happening in most churches today, in fact I would expect that if they were ever physically threatened for their faith that they would run.
I have a great fear that the church today is not ready for the persecution that awaits us and is rapidly approaching. I have a great fear that the lukewarm tendencies in our churches have been a breeding ground for Christian soldiers without any armor. I fear that the current church will be cowering as the Israelite army was against the Philistine giant. I fear that there are very few David's left in the church that have a true hunger for God and have sought after Him and not settled for cheap imitations. I fear that there are few Moses' that will boldly say to God, "I want to see your face" and not give in until God puts you in that cleft of the rock and passes by. I fear that there are few Paul's that will be bold enough to stand up face to face with those like Peter that wavered and needed to be corrected. I fear that there are too many on that "broad" road and they are blind to its destination. I fear that there are too many "foolish" virgins that once had a light burning but it has gone out and they do not know where to get the oil from. I am not better than anyone, I am not holier than anyone, I only desire what David and Moses and many others like them desired. I want to truly see God and witness His operation in the Church and I do not see it today in what we have.
Acts 8
3: As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.
When Saul was persecuting the "church" where does it say he went to get the people? From the big church building on the corner? He went from "house" to "house" collecting people.
Acts 10
22: And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee.
When Peter went to give the Gospel message to Cornelius it was in his home, in which he had also invited all his friends. In today's churches we wouldn't dare do this for fear that the pastor may feel we are trying to undermine his authority or split the church by starting our own following. The atmosphere of exalting this orator to this pedestal has created an environment of fear among the leadership of churches. It is very rare to find a pastor that is supportive of home gatherings outside of the church structure. It is a threat to the dependency upon him that has been placed there by this current churchism philosophy. The church building has it's place just as the Temple did in the first church, but it has become the one and only focus today and has therefore become an icon and grossly misused.
Acts 12
12: And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying.
When Peter was imprisoned the "church" immediately went into prayer for his release. This "church" prayer meeting was being held in the biggest church building in the Jerusalem area. No, that is not the case, it was held in the house of Mary and they were meeting for prayer. Why is it when churches today have so-called "prayer" meetings it is either so structured or so limited that it is ridiculous to call it that? Could it be that the current structure of this Churchism does not allow for gatherings to be intimate and allow for the freedom necessary to create the proper atmosphere? The close and comfortable atmosphere in gatherings was lost with the professional structure that was brought in with the Constantine era.
There is something that is more important than just losing the intimate prayer time in our gatherings, if that is possible. Jesus came to seek and save those that needed to be saved. He gave His life for the salvation of all and trained His disciples to go out and win the lost with the Gospel message. True evangelism lost its importance in the church world and never regained its rightful place to this day. All the activities and programs leave no room for evangelism and discipleship in the church. Today's churches are too busy employing business and marketing techniques to bring people in instead of the simple approach of knocking on doors. I would like to share some statistics of what the result has been due to this mentality.
Continued to Page 4
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