Symplicity of the old country church..

[frienduff thaylorde]

2 hours ago, angels4u said:

Isaiah 53 
53 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him,
nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
He was despised, and we held Him in low esteem.

4 Surely He took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered Him punished by God,
stricken by Him, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on Him,
and by His wounds, we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on Him
the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet He did not open his mouth;
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so He did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away.
Yet who of His generation protested?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people He was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in His death,
though He had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in His mouth.

10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes His life an offering for sin,
He will see his offspring and prolong His days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
11 After He has suffered,
He will see the light of life and be satisfied
by His knowledge my righteous Servant will justify many,
and He will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great,
and He will divide the spoils with the strong
because He poured out His life unto death
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For He bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

Sing it , glory glory the LORD has saved us and not we ourselves .   SING IT SISTER .     its almost communion time .     My soul is lit up with praise to the LORD .

onward through the trenches peoples ,   sure its about to get far worse as time goes on,   BUT WE GOT CHRIST SO REJOICE PEOPLES and no fear of what is coming .

 

[p.rehbein]

 

This is so very true!  Yes, we, Gods children are the Church, but there is a Church Building where we meet, and it is usually referred to as our Home Church, and nothing wrong with that.  For many Christians, those Church Buildings have deep, Spiritual, and wonderful meanings/memories.

There's a church in the valley by the wildwood, 
No lovelier place in the dale, 
No spot is so dear to my childhood, 
As the little brown church in the dale. 

[chorus]
(Oh, come, come, come, come) 
Oh, come to the church in the wildwood, 
Come to the church in the dale, 
No spot is so dear to my childhood, 
As the little brown church in the dale. 

How sweet on a clear Sunday morning, 
To listen to the clear ringing bells, 
Its tones so sweetly are calling, 
Oh come to the church in the dale. 

[angels4u]

2 hours ago, p.rehbein said:

 

This is so very true!  Yes, we, Gods children are the Church, but there is a Church Building where we meet, and it is usually referred to as our Home Church, and nothing wrong with that.  For many Christians, those Church Buildings have deep, Spiritual, and wonderful meanings/memories.

There's a church in the valley by the wildwood, 
No lovelier place in the dale, 
No spot is so dear to my childhood, 
As the little brown church in the dale. 

[chorus]
(Oh, come, come, come, come) 
Oh, come to the church in the wildwood, 
Come to the church in the dale, 
No spot is so dear to my childhood, 
As the little brown church in the dale. 

How sweet on a clear Sunday morning, 
To listen to the clear ringing bells, 
Its tones so sweetly are calling, 
Oh come to the church in the dale. 

Love that song, I was thinking of posting it too

Thanks for posting !

I do remember when the church bells were ringing, every different denomination had their own church bell sound

It reminded us it was time to leave to be in time in church

[Holly Joy]

It is sad to see these old churches standing vacant........But it is joy to see old country churches restored and still saving souls. I was saved due to a revival in old country church and two of the churches my family went to 80-100 years ago are still in good shape and still preaching the word! The picture attached is the church my great grandparents went to many years ago.

[pg4Him]

I don’t know why this has to be an “either-or” dilemma. We don’t have to choose between a megachurch and a tiny country church. There are many good-sized churches in between. 

Small churches and megachurches are both unhealthy extremes. Many of those tiny churches have part-time pastors with little to no formal teaching, and are dominated by a handful of popular members. 

[Willa]

It has been my experience that healthy churches are growing churches.  They are able to reach the teen agers and keep them (unless they move away).  Healthy church have a lot of men in attendance and participating as Sunday school teachers.  There is a good number of college age and young married couples.  The people are real and their lives are consistent--God pleasers not people pleasers.  So several of the churches I have attended were planted and grew from 10 to 1500 members in 15-20 years.  They outgrew the little country church in a very short time.  

Sometimes the people who point their fingers at others and yell hell fire and damnation are the ones who may be hiding the sin in their own lives.  There is little joy of the Holy Spirit there; instead people are frowning, stern and unfriendly.  So I always look for a church in which there was good verse by verse Bible teaching.  In one the pastor had a good sense of humor and would get me laughing at myself till my guard was down and the Holy Spirit was able to do a lot of healing, convicting and changing in me to be more like Jesus.  Other times God works directly through His word.  Where the Holy Spirit is working I am never bored or falling asleep.  No one has to shout or condemn to keep me awake.

God says "come let us reason together".  Jesus said He is gentle and lowly in heart.  Mat 11:29  NKJV “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  

So look for a little country church that is growing and not dead.

 

[SisterActs2]

On 30/03/2018 at 4:50 AM, KPaulG said:

This is one I love to see.  Would love to go there. 

Hey guys - you can come and join me!  I go to a little country weatherboard church like this - stuck right in the middle of town!  It has been modernised somewhat inside ... it has toilets, an office, cry room and kitchen as well as the main auditorium.  However, it is small, we all know each other and the true Word of God is preached by several members of the congregation (as well as the pastor)!  We're imperfect but as we all say, it's not about the building - it's about the people (who are the church) - and all about Jesus!  Hallelujah.  Sometimes we rub each other up the wrong way but there's love, there's a community of believers and we are a family.  Down the back there's an area where we stock food and has freezers and fridges.  On Friday mornings we have our food ministry, (which is called "Food for Life") where food parcels are given out by volunteers and people are invited to have a tea or coffee and sit down and have a chat.  We're all so different, from highways and byways and just glad the Lord has saved us