Qnts2 Posted March 3, 2014 Group: Royal Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 20 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 2,875 Content Per Day: 0.71 Reputation: 1,336 Days Won: 9 Joined: 03/13/2013 Status: Offline Share Posted March 3, 2014 My first question is, are people leaving the church or leaving Jesus? I am limited to seeing what is occuring in my area, where there are people leaving the church, but not leaving Jesus. Some have been Christians for 20 or 30 years, and are seeing error in the churches so are leaving. The other group are generation Y believers, who are disappointed in the churches, but I know many who are leaving the church but not Jesus. I do know people who seem to accept Jesus, and later leave the church and Jesus. I think this is explained in the parable of the seeds, some scattered on rocks, some among thorns, etc. According to the parable, many of these seeds which are not in good ground, fail due to trials. Matthew 13:3 And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. 8 And others fell on the good soil and *yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.” Mattew 13:18 “Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. 20 The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 23 And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.” In sharing the gospel, we must keep in mind that we are not trying to bring people to our church, or to us, but we are trying to bring people to Jesus. We should present Jesus and the gospel as truthfully and clearly as possible, knowing that we are to be persuasive to that person and culture. But, salvation is of the Lord. We do not actually save anyone, and it is the Holy Spirit Who draws, and gives revelation of Jesus. I knew a missionary who was known to be very effective. Large numbers of a certain group were saved by this mans work as a missionary. Yet, I know he had those who appeared to accept the Lord, and when a trial came which was more then they thought they could take, they renounced Jesus. I had the opportunity to read the diary of one such person, and from the outside, they would have appeared very enthusiastic for Jesus, but their personal thoughts showed that they were actually attracted to the appearance of Christians being friendly, and a tight knit group who have a good time together. They actually wanted to be a part of the group, and 'accepted Jesus' because that was the way to be a member of that group of Christians. But, when the Christians disappointed them, they renounced Jesus to return to their old group of friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwikphilly Posted March 3, 2014 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 96 Topic Count: 307 Topics Per Day: 0.08 Content Count: 18,136 Content Per Day: 4.63 Reputation: 27,816 Days Won: 327 Joined: 08/03/2013 Status: Offline Share Posted March 3, 2014 Blessings Qnts2 I believe I would tend to agree with you that people are just leaving the church(by that,we both mean houses of prayer & worship).Do you think that might tell us that perhaps many people attend church with the wrong intent & purpose in mind or perhaps unrealistic expectations?Isn't our main purpose in gathering with a Body of Believers to Praise & Worship God besides the hearing of His Word?I don't know,I can only be in one place at a time(lol)but on Sunday mornings when I am in the midst of my fellow congregants & we are all praising God and worshiping Him there is a feeling of gratitude I am overwhelmed by that I can just imagine how it must delight our Father.................There must be way too much"whats in it for me" attitude as part of the reason allot of folks are leaving,do you think so? "We" are "the Church".........perhaps if everyone had more of a "we" attitude there would be greater attendance in our houses of Prayer & Worship............just my little 2 cents,Praise & Glory to God! With love-in Christ,Kwik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shiloh357 Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 With so many people reportedly leaving churches, it makes we wonder, what Jesus they were sold? And what Jesus do I sell to others? I think that is an appropriate question. I think it really puts a finger on a real problem in evangelism. We have treated evangelism as if Jesus is a product we have to "sell" to the world. I find it interesting that Jesus didn't "sell" what He had to offer. Jesus told people, that they had to deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him. Jesus used the filter of the cross to sift through those who were true followers and those who were simply admirers. Jesus told them to take up their cross and follow Him. The cross represented the loss of everything. Jesus didn't try to talk people into following Him. Anything I can talk you into, someone else can talk you out of. We are simply called to be witnesses to the truth. But unfortunately, we have felt that need to "sell" people things like joy, peace, healing, prosperity, happiness and so forth. We have told people about the blessings of following Jesus ,but we have said next to nothing about the cost of following Jesus. We have done a grave disservice to people when we present a false, rosy picture of what following Jesus really looks like. Following Jesus has to be from a motivation of faith. It has to be something that you own, something that you are convinced of. Those who trust Christ from a genuine motive of faith can weather any storm. Those who follow Jesus merely because they were sold a set of propositional claims have no true lasting faith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 Most of the time when I am disappointed in God it usually has to do with the phrase, "why did you let me do that?" Maybe HE would respond "Because you wanted to do it? But I will use it for your good to accomplish my plan for you." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandyU Posted March 3, 2014 Group: Members Followers: 1 Topic Count: 3 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 64 Content Per Day: 0.02 Reputation: 18 Days Won: 1 Joined: 01/13/2014 Status: Offline Share Posted March 3, 2014 Jesus gave us a peace that is different than the peace the world has. It is a peace I can have along side of any hardship that I might be experiencing. Most become christians because they met Jesus and because of what he did for them. This is the peace we have. It is important to find the right church, A new christian might not know this. It is sad that some think because they are christians their problems are over. We need to get the word out that we have many of the same problems as everyone; but we have a hope in Jesus Christ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
other one Posted March 3, 2014 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 29 Topic Count: 596 Topics Per Day: 0.08 Content Count: 56,091 Content Per Day: 7.56 Reputation: 27,833 Days Won: 271 Joined: 12/29/2003 Status: Online Share Posted March 3, 2014 Most of the time when I am disappointed in God it usually has to do with the phrase, "why did you let me do that?" Maybe HE would respond "Because you wanted to do it? But I will use it for your good to accomplish my plan for you." You know, this has made me consider the things that happened last June when I fell and broke by left arm.... it completely messed with another two weeks of vacation we had scheduled where we had to stop and drive home so i could have surgery on my arm..... twice. After this conversation I'm wondering if there was something that he had to keep me away from in Oregon where we were to spend another two weeks.... possibilities would be endless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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