Fourth week, fourth church!

I attended Churchill Baptist Church this past Sunday.  It was refreshing to visit a church that was somewhat smaller and very similar to my home church in E'Town.

http://www.churchillbaptist.org/

After using my criteria outlined in an earlier post, this church was at the top of my list to visit.  And I did.  I was encouraged by the Pastor's recent sermon series in Romans 8.  It appeared that he had spent a lot of time in Romans, and specifically in Romans 8.

Expositional preaching is something that I have come to treasure and seek in a church and pastor.  It is not a something that would be a sole-deciding factor, but I want a pastor/teacher that will describe the verses and dig a little. 

To me, a little Greek here and a little Hebrew there goes a long way!  Furthermore, any pastor that is not afraid to preach through Romans 8 without skipping verses is a pastor who is honoring the Word of God.  So many pastors today will skip verse 29 and others in this passage to avoid any controversy.

With that, he finished chapter 8 this past Sunday and I will summarize it this way:  Paul has three sets of five imperatives in this chapter:

Five Convictions:
1.  He is at work
2.  For the good of us
3.  There is good in everything He does.  It is just not always the carnal man's definition of good.
4.  His good is for those that love Him, Repent of their sins and submit to His Lordship.
5.  And who are called according to His purpose.

Five Undeniable Affirmations
1.  Predestined to His image
2.  First among men
3.  Called out
4.  Justified
5.  Glorified

Five Unanswerable Questions (Paul's Throwdowns!)
1.  Who is against us?
2.  Who will take care of us?
3.  Who condemns us?
4.  Who will separate us from Him?
5.  Who will bring any charge against His chosen?

It was a great message.  I will  visit again, probably on Wednesday.  And not just because they have a Wednesday evening meal!

Drew's Top Ten Reasons NOT to visit a church

I am being extremely judgmental.  I can be- it is my blog!  I do judge a church on it's public image- what a church shows on the outside (website, information, etc) tells the public a lot about their beliefs and doctrine.  Paul wrote his letters to various churches based on what he heard about them.  They were not acting like the Bride of Christ!

After parsing through a list of twenty churches I finally made a list. Kind of like Jeff Foxworthy's approach:

1. If you don't have a website, I may not visit you.
2. If  your links include people like Joel Olsteen/Joyce Meyer/Creflo Dollar, I definitely will not visit.
3. If they are affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, I will not visit.

4.  If the Pastor's page included a LOT about himself, I may not be visiting!

5.  If you use words like 'relevant', 'missional', or 'on purpose', I may visit after exhausting all others!

6.  If you accept the 1963 Baptist Faith and Message (and make a big issue of it), I probably won't stop by!  (look it up, there is a reason why a church would go this way- then see #3- there is a connection!)

7.  If your church meets in a coffee house, donut shop, or bar, I will not break bread with your fellowship

8.  If anyone of the ministerial staff wears glasses like Rob Bell, then will assume that Hell is not real and that I don't need your church.  Buh-Bye!

9.  If your church newsletter quotes an author's (false teacher, perhaps?) paraphrase of an actual Bible verse for your 'Bible Thought of the Day', I will probably not be subscribing to your newsletter!

10.  If your church wants me to 'Experrience my Spirituality by reading a PowerPoint slide with water flowing and fiery flames in order to help me realize my happy feelings about my Daddy (God) and Bro (Jesus) then go and do some community service project so I can wear a cool t-shirt and feel better about my self (works)-  Good Bye!

I know that #10 is a huge run-on sentence, but you get my point!