What is your earliest memory of Church?

[HisFirst]

Just now, simplejeff said:

Well,   what happens when the MESSIAH,  JESUS,   the GOOD SHEPHERD,   calls His sheep ?  Do they go listen to another one,  or do they listen to the Shepherd Jesus ?   When Jesus is where God's Word Says,  when Jesus is where Jesus says He is,  who else is there ?   

Or,  if people like, enjoy, follow, or are deceived by another voice,  well.... this too is written, in God's Word .....

"Listen",  / seek/ keep seeking ..... ,   What is God's Promise ?  Who hears His Voice ?  (and who does not ? )

Hi Jeff,

do u have a memory to share of the time you first sat in a Church?

[simplejeff]

2 minutes ago, HisFirst said:

Hi Jeff,

do u have a memory to share of the time you first sat in a Church?

Wooden pew.   Everyone sit straight eyes forward and stay somber, quiet (not in a good way).  Little children sometimes on their knees on the floor facing backwards while coloring book on the pew while they used crayons to color pictures during service.   Joy ?  < shrugs > no one looked joyful.  more than that ?  < shrugs >  "religious people" with a form of religion and no power to save nor to heal.  no gospel preached, taught or practiced. (didn't think so at the time,  only years later after meeting real joyful peaceful healing rejoicing dancing even young and old alike with true saving, saved, and healing, healed lives and words as from the One True Living YHWH and Jesus His Son The Messiah in line with all Scripture,  living as they spoke,  living as YHWH'S Word says to live. ) 

 

[frienduff thaylorde]

34 minutes ago, simplejeff said:

Well,   what happens when the MESSIAH,  JESUS,   the GOOD SHEPHERD,   calls His sheep ?  Do they go listen to another one,  or do they listen to the Shepherd Jesus ?   When Jesus is where God's Word Says,  when Jesus is where Jesus says He is,  who else is there ?   

Or,  if people like, enjoy, follow, or are deceived by another voice,  well.... this too is written, in God's Word .....

"Listen",  / seek/ keep seeking ..... ,   What is God's Promise ?  Who hears His Voice ?  (and who does not ? )

Most have no idea for they hear not HIS VOICE.    Being born again is an encounter a real experience.    Being born again is not something your pastors can teach you my friends.

Pastors , deacons bishops and peoples of the LORD can preach the gospel.   but can not a one of them either MAKE YOU or CLAIM YOU BORN AGAIN.

ONLY GOD can.   PREACH THE ONE TRUE GOSPLE OF JESUS ,   So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the WORD O GOD.

Grace is real.   but often shuneed it is.   and often men fail of the grace o GOD , as paul knew and said.  For they continue not in the one who saves them.

Lest any man fail of the grace of GOD lest any root of bitterness spring up and few,  NO wait that is not the word,  AND MANY thereby be defiled.

We need to get serious about our walk.    COME and learn of HIM , feed of his sayings and you will grow , mature and bear fruit . FEED of the SPIRIT

Feed of the holy scrips which make one wise unto salvation through faith in Christ .    JESUS, HIS VOICE IS TRUTH.    and no lie is in him

and those truly of Him will follow ONLY HIM and a stranger they will not hear the voice of strangers but will flee them .

CHOOSE YE THIS DAY WHOM YOU SHALL SERVE and FOLLOW ONLY HIS SPIRIT and feast on the pages of the holy book and be made wise unto SALVATION

through faith IN CHRIST and flee the tabernacles of men who have your faith in them and in a jesus that does not exist .

For whoevers faith is in mens words that contradict JESUS , their are wise only unto SLAVATION.    they a slave to sin and only THINK they free.   

HURRY Peoples , eat of his flesh and drink of his blood for his words are spirit and the are life .   ONWARD PEOPLES

IF any one is in error , CORRECT THEM FAST .    Onward in the LORD . 

[frienduff thaylorde]

I have a wonderful testimony about a few and their testimony .

Years ago , back in two thousand and six,   I was jus barley in the Lord,  but I had went to visit this house church.

They were taking some down to south America,  I think or central amercia ,  I think It was south America.

They talked about how they were going to witness to these poor souls the gospel of JESUS.    Now I was a babe , but their was already a few things I had seen that seemed off

at the time.  NOT the desire to spread the gospel , but they had some who boasted in money and etc.

OKAY back to the story.    They ended up leaving and went down for a few weeks.

They came back and here was their story.     James was one of them who did the most speaking about this.  So here is his testimony.

He said they had went down with the attitude that they were going to win souls for JESUS.

and he told of how fired up they were , and they went into these poor shacks where the people had little to nothing

BUT you never would have known that .  He said they had a joy , a peace , such a trust and no worries at all.

They gave what little they had, and james even said he felt a bit guilty for taking it with them, but they insisted he eat with them and the others too.

HE said you should have seen the life in these poor people , you should have seen the joy in them.   SEE, their was a reason why JAMES and his group were sent down their

BUT it was not for james and his group to preach the gospel to these people, THEY ALREADY KNEW JESUS , you see.

James even said this....................they had such a joy and a peace , that I knew we did not have , nor our meeting places here in America.

James knew he had been duped by sorry doctrines of men that day.    SEE GOD had used the very people these men thought they were going down to share the gospel wiht

TO SHOW THESE MEN what THEY HAD LOST .    I have heard other stories from others too about things like this .

It breaks my heart to have to have to say this , but our western mindsets of JESUS that mostlearn.   ARE FALSE , FALSE .  they following a JESUS that aint JESUS at all.

[walla299]

On 1/18/2018 at 7:46 PM, HisFirst said:

Neither did I.

I was raised by a single dad who was atheist (he was raised RCC) but allowed his kids to go to Sunday School, Youth Group and Church services.

Very unusual.

I didn't grow up in a Christian home either. Dad served in the Pacific in WWII and came back with a real hatred for God from what other family members told me. He was raised in the Episcopal church as a kid. I had the chance to talk to him about that before he passed. After seeing the things he did in the Pacific during the war he figured anyone (God in this case) who would allow all that to go on was either evil or just didn't care. No religious training at home, and didn't set foot in a church until I was in the Air Force and got invited to one by some of those strange "Jesus people" that were in my Squadron.

First ever church service was in a small Baptist church near the base I was stationed at in Arkansas. People called "Amen!" during the sermon like they meant it, no one screamed, yelled, or swung from the lights shouting "alleluia!" They actually taught the Bible as the Word of God back then and I was saved not long after at age 19.

[frienduff thaylorde]

5 minutes ago, walla299 said:

I didn't grow up in a Christian home either. Dad served in the Pacific in WWII and came back with a real hatred for God from what other family members told me. He was raised in the Episcopal church as a kid. I had the chance to talk to him about that before he passed. After seeing the things he did in the Pacific during the war he figured anyone (God in this case) who would allow all that to go on was either evil or just didn't care. No religious training at home, and didn't set foot in a church until I was in the Air Force and got invited to one by some of those strange "Jesus people" that were in my Squadron.

First ever church service was in a small Baptist church near the base I was stationed at in Arkansas. People called "Amen!" during the sermon like they meant it, no one screamed, yelled, or swung from the lights shouting "alleluia!" They actually taught the Bible as the Word of God back then and I was saved not long after at age 19.

I was hoping to hear that when you talked to him , he repented.   Even on a death bed ONE is just as saved as one who has served him for years.

Did he receive Christ at his very end .    I sure hope so.  

[walla299]

8 minutes ago, frienduff thaylorde said:

I was hoping to hear that when you talked to him , he repented.   Even on a death bed ONE is just as saved as one who has served him for years.

Did he receive Christ at his very end .    I sure hope so.  

I have no idea whether he repented or not, although I did have a chance to share the (real) gospel with him. He was pretty far gone from liver cancer at the time - and he told me were to go and gave precise directions as to how to get there. He did seem to listen, so the rest is between him and the Lord.

I hope he repented, even though we spent many years estranged by my being a believer and other issues. I imagine he had some time alone with the Lord in the hospital room that night after I left. I'd like to hope for the best.

 

[Blood Bought 1953]

 

I learned how to play church as a child.we were instructed to believe that Jesus was the Messiah and then imitate Jesus and if you did a good enough job of that you could be saved.Always trying to keep people from falling asleep by sticking to the exciting stuff.....only thing ever taught about Paul was how he was put in a basket and escaped from wherever. Boredom in school could not compete with the super boredom of church.what stood out the most was the absolute glees when church was dismissed, seeing how at that moment In time I was as far away from the next weeks service as I could possibly be.lol.....I hear remarks from others that still go to brick and mortar churches in this area.....not much has changed.

[Marilyn C]

On ‎19‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 11:22 AM, HisFirst said:

My most vivid memory is of about 5 or 6 years of age and being very frightened to close my eyes in prayer - I thought something 'bad' would happen while our eyes were shut!!

 

*and also the adults after service outside the Church building, pinching my chubby cheeks and calling me Goldie locks and "oh, doesn't she look like Shirley Temple!!".... I wanted an escape route really fast!

Hi HisFirst,

What a great thread and so good to hear other`s stories and see God`s hand along the way. For me, I was very blessed to be brought up in a Christian home. My first memories of Church meeting was sitting in a seat with a cushion near the front, as my mother would often take down the prophecies in short hand. She also was often in the orchestra and so needed to sit near there.

We entered the main area and walked quietly down to near the front where we sat. My father must have been elsewhere helping behind the scenes as he was an elder. I had my books to read and pen and paper to draw. I enjoyed the singing, and then going out to the back area for Sunday School. My teacher there had a most fearful voice, and at Easter I so remember her speaking of the Lord`s crucifixion, with such a heart rending voice that stirred me to my very depths. I gave my heart to the Lord as a young child, and appreciate the teaching I had over the years.

  Marilyn.

[Sower]

4 hours ago, bryan said:

Earliest memory?  A dark, catholic church built perhaps in the 1970s.  During service, nobody looked at each other or smiled.  They instead watched intently and chanted replies to what the priest prompted.  In one such service I remember vividly the priest was in an exotic robe and hat.  He was walking up and down the aisles of the church while waving a lantern with smoking incense and chanting in Latin as everyone there tried not to look at him.  A small girl whispered loudly to her mother as the priest walked by: "Ooohhh!  Magic!" and her mother quickly hushed the child.

You pretty much described my early memories, bryan. But the old catholic church I attended in the fifties  was probably over a hundred years old and looked like a small Notre Dame, with fifty foot ceilings, and a hundred paintings and statues and gargoyles. (and five hundred candles). And my memories were about my constant nervousness as a kid walking behind that priest as an altar boy, forgetting my (Latin) responses. Third or fourth grade. My mom wanted at least one of her six boys to serve mass, and I was elected. Up to my early teenage years, it was not uncommon for me to be in church five or six days a week. But never heard the Gospel. But I learned plenty of Latin, just not what it meant. And like you said, dark, quiet, and "reverent". Very formal. Strict. Today, so many years later, the smell of incense will trigger the dark age of my life.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Gary Lee