Chase the truth

Hello hello, friends. I'll just slide in here like I have not been away for a while because I have something to share with you.

I had a wonderful virtual service on Sunday with celebration church international (CCI) and the message Look and Live was such a necessary message for me in this time and season, and I remember feeling so grateful and excited to belong to a church that focuses on the gospel and teaches it so thoroughly and clearly without any eisegesis. Later that day on the socials (IG) I came across some questionable sermon quotes/excerpts from different churches that concerned me and stirred up a thought within me.

Before sharing my thought, I'll start with a few questions that I want you to ponder on for a few seconds.

What factors did you take into consideration before you decided to become a member of your church?

And what did you do to help you make that decision?

As I write this post, I do so assuming that you have an understanding of the importance of belonging to a local assembly (or local church). If you don't, then that is all right. I'll go through this briefly. If I still have you at this point in the post and you do not even know Jesus and what it means to be saved, I would like to share more about this with you, please feel free to get in touch here. Now, why is it important to belong to a local assembly?

It was Christ's intention for us to be united in our faith and grow in our knowledge of Him (Ephesians 4:11-16). Paul also demonstrated throughout the epistles the importance of the church. As he taught the word of God, he admonished the churches and emphasised their roles in spreading and teaching the gospel. He encouraged the church in Hebrews not to give up on fellowshipping together (Hebrews 10:23-25). This is no different in this generation. While it is important to spend your time studying the scriptures, it is equally important to have a church with a spiritual leader that can teach and guide you.

This is how I think about it, learning about the gospel should be approached with the same (if not more) dedication that we approach learning professional courses with. You look for the best institutions that have been proven to accurately teach the course you are interested in. If it is a qualification that matters to you, you do not blindly trust that you will understand all aspects of the course without error if you were to buy a book and study it on your own.

So you might be thinking well I can just know God for myself and read my bible on my own but

there are risks associated with learning in isolation:

- There is no accountability and leadership which we saw multiple times between Paul and the different churches in the epistles.

- You have no one to direct your questions to or worse you direct them to the wrong person.

- You can easily make mistakes and have no one to rightly identify them and correct them.

- You may depend on many online teachers which can lead to misdirection and confusion due to multiple doctrines which may be scriptural or not.

- You deprive yourself of the opportunity to serve in the house of God (and please don't say you visit or donate to the orphanages every month, we know that's not what I mean)

Now that we have briefly established the importance of belonging to a local church, I will ride on to my next point which is the importance of choosing the right assembly.

Your local assembly should firstly be a place of fellowship where the word of God is rightly and truthfully taught. Going back to my initial questions, I hope in your list of factors you had something related to 'rightly teaching the gospel' at the top of your list in BOLD letters. It should not be about if the worship songs were 'moving' or if the choir is of a 5-star standard or if your friends go there too. Because as much as I love a melodious choir and 5-star sound system, all of that is irrelevant if I am not being taught about the gospel of Christ, my identity and authority in Christ and spiritual growth on a consistent basis. I will say this bluntly, the gospel is not a 2-step process to making money, and money or material wealth should not be the focus of your church's teachings.

One of the easiest ways to be enlisted in the army of satan is to be ignorant of the doctrines of Christ. - Pst Emmanuel Iren

And you might ask, how can you identify this truth? There is really one simple way around this, BE A STUDENT OF THE WORD! Rightly divide the scriptures and interpret scriptures as they are (exegesis) without any personal connotations (eisegesis). If you do not know the truth as it is in the scriptures, then how shall you identify a lie or near-truth? Pastor Iren of CCI covered this a little bit in last week's mid-week service, Vintage Jesus where he talked about doctrine.

The Gospel remains the gospel, irrespective of the change in generation and societal norms. I am saved now and forevermore, and not by my works or my perfect deeds but by the grace of God which is neither earned nor lost! It is available to all, and all who believe in Jesus are what?..........SAVED! It is really that simple!!! - Ephesians 2: 1-10.

Anyway, my point is 'I did not know' is not an excuse for you to remain in the wrong church. It is absolutely your responsibility, not friends or family, to ensure that you are under the right spiritual authority, in the right church. If you attend a church, take notes. After taking notes, go back to the source of all things pertaining to the Gospel, the Bible, and STUDY! There should be no contradiction, read, cross-check and respectfully ask questions. If there is a consistent discrepancy between your church's teachings and the word of God, then I encourage you to start thinking about finding a new church (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22), a place where you learn about the gospel and doctrines of Christ and who you are in Christ. We are a generation that rejects complacency in the matters of God, we are not chair warmers or activity chasers. We are students of the word and every good student deserves a great teacher.

Chase the truth! Whatever church or fellowship you find yourself in, let your primary drive to remain there be your pursuit of the truth.

I pray that the Holy Spirit will give you the discernment to identify false teachings and give you an understanding of the scriptures as you study them. Amen.

Until next time.

Have a blessed week lovely people 😊

SCRIPTURES (NKJV)

Ephesians 4:11-16

11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the [e]edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Hebrews 10:23-25

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Ephesians 2: 1-10

1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the [a]course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22

21 Test all things; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.