The DeGRAFF FREE
State Route 235/
Phone: (937) 585-4463
James R. Roby, Pastor
"Good Reasons To
by Pastor Art Kohl,
(with tongue
firmly planted in cheek).
1. The Ceiling Might Fall On
Us! This happens often! It's always in the news: "Church
ceilings falling everywhere hundreds killed each Sunday." Our church has a
fulltime crew, of men that do nothing but fix our ceilings because they are
always caving in on people. We may have to go to openair
meetings soon.
2. We Don't Have Anything To
Wear Yes, we all have clothes for work and play. We can find clothes
to wear for an occasional funeral or wedding. We have plenty of clothes for
school or business or to go shopping with each week, but clothes for church are
a scarce commodity. Stores just don't sell them these days. Well, what are you gonna do, huh?
3. We Don't Have Any Time
So what if there are 168 hours in a week. Does God expect us to use 3 or
4 of those hours to go to church? That would only leave us with 164 hours
to do all the other things we have to do! Are you nuts??? Doesn't God know we
work full time? That's 40 hours a week! That only leaves us with 128 hours of
free time. No way, Jose! We're too busy for church. God will have to
understand.
4. All They Want Is Money That's
absolutely the only reason for the existence of the church in our town, to take
our money! Our Pastor preaches over 150 sermons a year and everyone is
entitled, "Give us your money!" The stores and the
service stations, the bars and the movie house, the fuel company and electric
company, the phone company and the water authorities, the government and the
post office, the florist and the printer, the carpenter and the mechanic, the
insurance company and the recreation areas never ask for money. Why shouldn't
the church operate for nothing too? Who do they think they are, any way?
5. There Are Too Many
Hypocrites At Church Sure the church is half empty, but there are
still too many hypocrites there. Hypocrites shouldn't be allowed in church.
Churches should have desks at the door where trained specialists can identify
hypocrites trying to sneak in. They should be turned away and barred from going
into the service until they're perfect, Of course, the best place for a
hypocrite to be is inside of a good church where they will learn to be honest,
sincere Christians who practice what they preach, but until they get rid of the
phonies, we're not going there!
6. Nobody Invited Us Any Way Why
should you feel as though churches care about YOU? Has the Pastor ever come to
your house and given you a personal invitation? Sure, there are 25,000 people
living around us, but come on! You're special! Sure, they advertise just like
the stores we patronize and try to help the community just like the businessmen
we deal with, but church is different. Until they come to your house
personally, DON'T GO!
7. We Can Be Close God Anywhere
The Scripture tells us that God shed His blood for the church (Acts
20:28,) but that's no big deal. We'd shed our blood for things that aren't
worthwhile to us either. Blood donors don't give blood to help people. They
just don't have anything else to do. It's not important to them! We shed our
blood for insignificant things all the time, don't we? Just because we shed our
blood for something, doesn't mean it's important to us. Same
thing with God. Why should we think His church is important to Him? I'm
sure He understands. We can be as close to God at home as we can be at the
church.
Now, Let's Be Serious For A
Minute Some of these reasons seem humorous or silly, but as a
Pastor, I hear these and so many others all the time. Friends, the church is
not perfect; neither am I, and neither are you. The
word "Church" means "a called out ASSEMBLY." It comes from
the Greek work "Ekklesia." It appears in
the Bible 80 times. It always refers to a local church in a local town
somewhere in the world. The word "churches" appears in the Bible 35
times, meaning there is more than one. The church is an institution of God that
is to be operated in different towns. A true church is comprised of people who
have been saved first, baptized second, and added to the church third. Notice
this in Acts 2:41, "Then they that gladly received His word were baptized:
and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls."
Acts 2:47 adds this, "And the Lord added to the church daily such as
should be saved."
Its main obligation is the preaching of the Word of God. Titus 1:3 says,
"But hath in due times manifested His word through preaching, which is
committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior." God's
method of doing this is by saved, ordained Pastors. Jeremiah 3:15 says,
"And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you
with knowledge and understanding." Isn't it time for you to set aside all
the excuses and be saved? Those who wait for the 11th hour to repent usually
die at 10:30!
Come to the Lord Jesus Christ as you are. Ask Him to forgive you of your
sins, and call upon Him right now, where ever you are, to be your Saviour. Ask Him to have mercy on you and save you. (See
Acts 4:12, John 1:12, John 14:6, Romans 10:13) Pray from your heart:
"Heavenly Father, I do today receive Jesus Christ as my Savior from sin
and its penalty. I believe He died for me and was buried and rose again and
trust today in His sacrifice and shed blood for the forgiveness of my sin.
Please come into my heart and give to me eternal life. In
Jesus' name, Amen."
Now, GO TO CHURCH. Find a Bible believing,
Bible preaching, teaching and practicing church. The Bible is God's Word to man
that reveals His mind and His will to us. Find a church where the Bible is
studied from cover to cover and not just read.
Get yourself a King James Bible, and read it,
then heed it.
