What is a church?

This is a question that Shane and I have really been sorting through in our minds, and in the Word, for the past several months.

For example, what would the Lord have us do with our children during church?

When the Hebrews met, they included their children. It was a huge part of their culture, as well as God's instruction to them, to have their children alongside them as they studied the Torah and worshiped the Lord.

Deuteronomy 6:1-7
1"Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the LORD your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it,
2 so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.
3 "O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
4 "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!
5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
6 "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.
7 "You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

Certainly, there are some wonderful childrens' programs in churches. No doubt. It's just that in many of the churches we have visited, they believe that Scripture must be dumbed down in order for children to understand it.

I don't believe that, and I don't want to be held accountable before God for changing His Word! We went to one church that took John 3:16, and cut it to "God loves you".

Wow! Ok, I agree it's important that a child knows that God loves him, but must we really cut the Gospel out of John 3:16?

These children were in kindergarten! I think with a little bit of effort on the part of the teacher, they could have understood "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life".

In fact, I know they could have because I've seen how much of the Word children can absorb when it's presented to them in an interesting way, and they have an opportunity to engage with God and His Word.

So...other questions have been pulling at us as we've looked for a church...questions like, "Does God really want our family to drive 20 - 30 minutes to a church, or would He rather us be planted in our community where He can more readily use us?".

"How much time do we have left with our children, to pour the Word into them, and build a firm foundation for the rest of their lives?".

"How can we reach out to the lost, the hurting, the poor in our neighborhood, and share the love of Yeshua with them?".

But, ultimately our question has been..."What is the model that we have of a church, from Scripture? What is the basis of a church supposed to be?".

Tune in tomorrow, and I'll tell you what we've found out....

Have a super night!
Jes

The Sovereignty of God

Today I got up early, and was looking forward to rekindling my love of studying God's Word over a great cup of iced coffee...ALONE.

Yet, my little guy is an early bird. I promise, I worked like mad to train him to be a late riser, but the older he has gotten, the more he has chosen to defy me. :)

God just wired him that way, I think. He loves to get up early.

So, before my coffee was even brewed, he walked in, chattering like a mockingbird.

It turned out wonderful, though. We had about an hour and a half together, and we studied Matthew chapter 2 on an in-depth level.

One of the cross references was Psalm 103:19 "The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all."

Wow! What a powerful verse.

These past months, I've really struggled with the sovereignty of God. I was taught, as a child, that satan controls this world, and God will control everything after Jesus comes back.

Yet, that isn't what Scripture says. Over and over again, it speaks of the sovereignty of God...TODAY. Even Peter was told by Jesus that satan had gained permission, by asking (of God), to sift him like wheat. The operative words here, though, are that satan had to ask permission of the Father first.

I believe, from my study of the Word, that nothing happens in the life of the believer without God's permission.

Romans tells us that we are a slave to that which we obey..either to sin or to righteousness. So, I believe that it's different for someone who doesn't belong to Jesus. I don't think that satan has to ask permission in their lives, although I'm still studying that hypothesis out.

I do believe that satan can't even breath a nasty breath on one who has been sealed by the Holy Spirit, in Christ, without God's permission.

So, to see that verse today was really amazing for me.

I asked Caedmon all about it...

WHO established God's throne? He did, Mommy.

WHERE is it established? In the heavens.

WHAT does it mean that God is sovereign? He rules, Mommy. He's in control.

WHAT does that mean to us, Caedmon? We can trust Him, Mommy.

WHO does God's sovereignty rule over? ALL, Mommy...everything.

Then there was a cross reference that took us to Revelation, where we learned about the new heaven and the new earth. (Did you KNOW that the new earth will have no seas?! I didn't!)

It talked about the new Jerusalem being the bride for Jesus. ( I'm paraphrasing a bit..but that's the gist.) I was SO excited when Caedmon said, "But Mommy, I thought the church was the bride of Christ."

Yippie! He's listening!

And, I was reminded of something quite dear to my heart, in this interchange with my little guy...this conversation we had today about God's Word, and his questions that stemmed from our study, are the EXACT reason why I hope to find a church where our children are welcomed in the service with us.

There is nothing that takes the place of these kinds of discussions with my children. Nothing. That's my job as a Mother, to ground them in the Word...and I hope to find a church home where the Word is taught, and not through a paraphrase, but through the Word itself. ( Oops! I think I just picked up the soapbox!)

I want to be able to talk with my children about the hard questions that they have of Scripture. Goodness knows that I have my fair share of tough questions for Scripture!

I was also reminded today that time in the Word, 1st thing in the morning, with Caedmon, just makes him a different little boy. It truly is like the Shepherd's staff for him...he was wonderful today, and yesterday I was ready to bar-b-que him for dinner!

I guess he's just like his Mommy in that...I'm not much fun to be around when I haven't had my time with the Lord, either.

Today was a wonderful day. I needed it. :)

He did too!

Jes

So, I was wondering about Noah's Dad...

I was spending some time tonight in prayer, and I asked the Lord if there was an example in Scripture of a child who had chosen to separate from their parent(s) because the parents weren't walking in righteousness before the Lord.

And, in that time, Noah came to my mind.

So...I went digging.

I remembered that the Word said that God found Noah to be the only righteous among those alive at the time. ( my paraphrase here ... for exact wording, see Genesis 5 )

So it made me question....were Noah's parents alive at the time? Had they blown it before God...is that why they weren't included on the ark?

This is what I found...Lamech, Noah's father, is mentioned in the genealogy for Noah...and when you do the math, you find that his father died 5 years before the flood.

Wow! I wonder what Noah's dad was saying to him all the while that he was building the ark. It would seem that Lamech was spared, since he died 5 years prior to the flood...but, I'd need to do a search on his name, and see if other Scriptures with his name show, before assuming that to be true.

I just found it interesting that Scripture says that Lamech had other sons and daughters, but it's only Noah...and his family, whom God spared.

Makes me wonder about Lamech...was he a man after God's heart...did he teach his children to follow the Lord, and then find that all but Noah would choose not to?

Or, did Lamech not do such a great job for any of them?

Lots more questions come up for me, out of this...that's just one more thing I love and appreciate about having learned to study the Word for myself...I know that I can find these answers out, by just spending some more time digging.

Isn't that awesome? To have a question for the Lord, and know that He will show us the answer as we turn to His Holy Word to find them.

Amazing that it's that simple, yet we have put our Bibles on a shelf, and only take them to church on Sunday ( and even that is a MAYBE, for many people ).

I remember that someone met Shane at a men's group shortly after we moved here and the guy said to Shane, "Oh, I recognize you...you're the guy who always brings his Bible to church!".

How sad! How sad that taking one's Bible to CHURCH makes them stand out from the crowd!

Where is Your Bible? Why don't you open it up and ask God to show you something awesome today...then send me a comment and tell me what you learned.

I can't wait to hear from you!

In Him,
Jes