VII. Sanctification (Continued...)

Can A True Christian Stay In A Dead Church?

Some say they prefer to stay in the church although it is dead. Their reason is that they feel they might be able to revive the church and influence the people. An egg placed under a dead chicken will not produce two live chickens. You will end up with two dead ones or one dead one and the other not yet born.

The choice of a church is the second most important thing in a person's life; the home being the first. The name over the church door doesn't make too much difference, but what is taught behind the door and the examples of the leadership are all important. Every Christian should find or start a good, Bible-based, Bible preaching, Bible-teaching, soul-winning church, where the Holy Spirit is honored and prevails. This is absolutely crucial to spiritual growth and development.

If a Christian, even though genuinely saved (born-again) and baptized in the Holy Spirit according to Acts 2:4, elects to stay in an environment of error, then that Christian's spiritual growth will (at least) be stunted, and perhaps much worse will result. That individual could even be destroyed, spiritually speaking, if he insists on walking contrary to the light that God has given him.

The fact of an individual's being saved (born-again) is of tremendous importance. However, what happens to that individual after he or she becomes saved is of equal importance. This period of time following the salvation experience is so important that the bulk of the New Testament was provided to show Christians how to live, how to walk in the light, how to conduct themselves and how to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

A tremendous obligation enters the life of those persons who have been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. They are no longer their own but are bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20). That price was the indescribable agony Jesus suffered as He hung on the cross. We are, therefore, to take up our cross and follow the Lord

Why I Go To Church

Because I need to breath the air
Of faith and hope, peace and prayer,
Because of week-day strain and wear.
I go to church.

Because I cannot get from radio
Nor Sunday paper nor picture show
The food that makes the spirit grow.
I go to church.

Because lecture-hall and laboratory
Don't show me myself like Gospel story,
So, to help my soul take inventory,
I go to church.

Because I need the spirit's bread
I go to church. I go to church.
Which at church is freely spread,
Because of memories of my dear dead,
I go to church.

Because our earth with ills is rife,
Class and clan all make for strife,
So, seeking a better way of life
I go to church.

Because my relations all the week
Rest so much on class and clique,
Because I'd learn of Christ the meek,
I go to church.

Because the church is a dynamo
From which spiritual currents flow
To keep earth's moral lights aglow,
I go to church.

Because Death's chasm I would span
And build life on an eternal plan
After the pattern of the Perfect man
I go to church.