Next Big Crisis, Part Two: The Need for a Strong Church

Hi, my name is Rick Bloodworth. This is the Common Sense Christian channel, and this is part two of the next big crisis. Are you ready for it? Well, yesterday we talked about several different crises that have occurred in America's history. We looked at three that I consider to be, and most people, I believe, consider to be, the three biggest crises that we have endured, and it started with the Revolutionary War as a result of the tyranny of the King of England and And the different things that the country of England was doing to, to those that were in America that caused them to believe that they needed to break off in fact, they had a list of 27 grievances when they put together the Declaration of Independence. But the primary factor was the idea that they were being ruled by tyrants, that they just weren't given a voice. within their government. And so there was the revolutionary war. And the second crises we looked at was the civil war. It was a little bit different. And while there were some in America who felt that they were fighting tyrants, really, when you look at the causes of the civil war, it was because of a specific sin that was the sin of slavery that some men wanted to perpetuate and some men could no longer go along with. And so we ended up with the Civil War. We were, we figures show that about 2 percent of the entire U. S. population died during the Civil War, either in battle or from the consequences of the war itself. And so the Civil War is probably the greatest conflict that America has ever had. Certainly it had the greatest death toll. as far as the percentage of its population, and there was a lot of fallout from that. And again, I want to say it was because there were some men who just did not want to give up their sin. And then the third great crisis was really a combination of two things. It began with the Great Depression starting with the stock market crash in October of 1929, and then beginning or, or continuing on with World War II, which began in Europe somewhere maybe around 1938, 1939, but America started getting into the war full time at the end of 1941 with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and then also getting into the war with Europe. But again, it was a tremendous crisis. This was the first one and the only one of these three that was not actually fought on American soil, but the toll was quite heavy. And, and it was something that Americans just had to get through in order to survive. Well, right now, we may be on the verge of a fourth great crisis, or crisis, and it really has a lot of the characteristics of the first three, and I believe that's what's been getting some people's attention. Very few people that I know don't believe, That there's a lot of things going on right now that could have some pretty heavy consequences for us. Some people believe that we're being ruled by tyrants, that we are, even though we're able to have a vote, that vote does not always count, or it isn't always counted properly, or even if it is, those we have put in to represent us, are completely ignoring us. And so we have that aspect of tyranny. We also have an aspect of sin. America has gotten to the point right now with, with sexual sin and with things like abortion that we have a lot of things that are going on right now that a prudent person, someone familiar with the scriptures understands is so bad. That God may just not put up with it forever, and so there may be a toll to pay for that. And then you add that to a financial crisis that we seem to be going through right now with heavy periods of inflation, great national debt, personal debt, on and on to the point where we have a lot of things that are starting to come together. And that's not to mention wars that are going on around the world right now, and America's seeming interest in getting involved in some of these wars, or at least our leaders being interested in getting involved in these wars. And so the point is, we live in very unsettled times, and a prudent person is going to take notice of that. and is going to make certain preparations, the best preparations they can to prepare for, for these different crises that are occurring right now. Yesterday, we looked at the most important thing for us to do, though. I believe that people get very caught up in the physical preparations, and we do need to have a certain amount of physical preparations. Just as servants of God, we need to be I believe, prepared for, physically for the things that are going to be coming up just so that we can serve God to the best of our potential. Because if we get caught up in the rat race that will surely come with people scrambling for different things if a crisis does occur, then it's going to be very hard for us to serve God during that. But if we're prepared as we can be physically, then maybe we can have our heads high enough above water to where we can actually be a help instead of a hindrance. And so we started off yesterday by talking about first things first. And the first thing that I'm convinced we need to do is make sure that our lives are right with God. to make sure that we are saved or at least as sure as an individual can be without taking God's place in the judgment. Certainly God will make the final determination, but he has told us within the scriptures what we need to be doing in order to be saved. He's already extended his grace to everybody and Christ has died and shed his blood for everybody, but they've still prepared a hell for those who do not accept the terms. of that grace and the terms of Christ's sacrifice. So, obedience is required. There are things that we need to do. We can never earn our salvation, it's true, but we still have our part to do and we can certainly miss out on salvation because our refusal of our refusal to obey God. So first things first, make sure as best as you can that you're saved. And we talked about a strategy for that, that I believe is very workable and it involves simply reading the word of God and then studying through the word of God and specifically the new Testament, since we're under the new Testament era, you can read through the new Testament, just reading starting in Matthew. 30 minutes a day in about a month, you can get through the entire New Testament. And then you're going to have an overview of the era in which we live. And then you can go back maybe just three chapters a day and start studying specifics, things that you're interested in. I would really encourage you to for sure study what it takes to be saved and write down every verse. that the New Testament says where God tells you of something that saves you. But whatever other study you want to do, I would do that as well. That'll take about three months in addition to the month you've already spent reading the New Testament the first time. So we're looking at four months. That's a lot of time, but let's face it four months from now, you're going to be four months older anyway. Why not be four months wiser and why not be taking a proactive measure. in order to ensure as best as you can that you are in a proper relationship to God. So first things first, make sure that you're saved. Make sure that those that you love are saved as well, or at least that they're going through the process that they need to be going through to do their part in God's plan of salvation. Now, Once you're saved, now we can start looking at the other things that we need to be doing. And before we get to the physical things, which I believe we really need to be giving special attention to right now. I believe you probably do too, or you wouldn't have been listening this far. But before we get to that, there's one other spiritual thing that we need to be doing. And that is to ensure the, the health of the church. When we talk about the church, the New Testament is very specific about what the church is, how we become part of the church, and what our responsibilities are within the church. And so let's go ahead and look at a few verses that will help us to understand perhaps a little bit better what the church is and what we're expected to do within the church. But I want to point out that the church is going to be a critical factor. in the health of the United States of America. Without a healthy church, America is simply not going to make it. But if the church is strong and doing well, well, whatever comes out of the ashes if we do have a crisis will be that much stronger because it's going to be led and strengthened by the church. So here's what the Bible says about the church. First of all, The church is the body of Christ. In Colossians chapter one, verse 18, talking about Christ, it says, he is the head of the body. In Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 22, it says God placed all things under his feet, talking about Jesus. God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head of over everything for the church, which is his body. Well, he says it both ways. In Colossians, he says the body of Christ is the church. And in Ephesians, he says that the church is the body of Christ. So understand when we look at the scriptures and we look at the phrase, the body of Christ, we are talking about God's church, Christ's church. And now we want to look at our relationship to that body or to that church. The first question people often want to know is how many churches are there? Well, the New Testament only talks about one and it doesn't talk about my church or your church. It talks about God's church, about Christ's church. And listen to what Ephesians chapter four says. There is one body. We've already determined that the body is Christ's church. There is one body. And one spirit. Most people have no problem with the fact that there's one Holy Spirit. Just as you are called to one hope. Again, most people have no problem with the idea of one hope. One Lord. Well, we believe that Jesus is the only Messiah. One faith. People are starting to waver on that, but the Bible has no other teaching. There's just one faith. One baptism, again, people argue over that, but the Bible is very specific. There's one baptism and there's one God and Father of all who is over all and in all. And so here in Ephesians chapter four, we're told that there's one spirit, there is one Lord, there is one God, there is one hope, there's one faith, there's one baptism, and there is one body. One church at this point. A lot of people are going to get mad. But again, this is the scriptures that are talking about this. And then people are going to demand to know, well, whose church is it? Is it your church? Is it this church over here? And again, the point is that the church. is the church of God. It's the church of Christ. It is their church. And again, it's not so much the name you have over the door because there's a lot of different religious groups that may have a proper name over the door that have nothing to do with Christ's church, just as there are other bodies of, of Christians that are meeting together that may not have the perfect name over the door, but they do appear to be doing what God wants them to do. and therefore they're part of the church. And this is the next part. How do you get to be part of the church? Acts chapter 2. In Acts chapter 2, we have the first gospel sermon. It is preached 51 days after Jesus was crucified, 49 days, seven weeks to the day after Jesus rose from the dead. And the apostles are preaching to the people what God wants them to know about, about Christ and about the church that's about to be established on this day. And so in Acts chapter two, the apostle Peter is the primary speaker that we have in this chapter. And starting in verse 21, he points out that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Now he's not denying God's grace. He's not denying Christ's sacrifice. He's not saying that this is the only element of salvation. He's just saying this is one of the elements. Calling on the name of the Lord will be saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Well, what does this mean? When you turn to Romans chapter 10 and you start in verse 10, you will find out that everyone who confesses Jesus is Lord and believes in their heart that God raised him from the dead will be saved for everyone who confesses with his lips and believes in his heart that Jesus is the Christ again will be saved for it says in verse 13 of Romans chapter 10. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And so here we have a great description of what it means to call on the name of the Lord. It's acknowledging that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God. In first John, chapter four and verse 15, we're told that we are to acknowledge that very thing, that Jesus is the Son of God and by doing so we'll have God living in us and we will live in him. In Acts chapter 22 and verse 16, when, when Saul of Tarsus, after he had been persecuting the church and then Christ met him on the road to Damascus, Jesus told him, you go into the town where you'll be told what to do. And so he did. He went on into Damascus and with, met with the man who told him that he needed to be baptized while calling on the name of the Lord. Acts chapter 22 verse 16. He says, what are you waiting for? Arise, be baptized and wash away your sins. calling on his name. And so here again, we have that phrase calling on his name. Well, Peter doesn't stop there. In Acts chapter two in verse 36, he continues with this first gospel message. And he says, let all Israel be assured of this. God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ. When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, brothers, what should we do? Put yourself in their position. Just seven weeks earlier, a little over that, they were calling for Jesus to be crucified because they didn't believe that he was the son of God. They thought he was a blasphemer. And then Jesus rose from the dead and all the miracles that occurred during the time of the crucifixion and afterward convinced them that he really was the son of God. So when Peter told them that, The question, what should we do, was genuine. They wanted to know, is there anything we can do? And Peter replied, in verse 38, repent, that's turning away from your sins, and turning towards God, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins may be forgiven. Note the important part of repentance and baptism, to having your sins forgiven, and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. There are two types of gifts of the Holy Spirit. One that is universal, that's given to everyone upon their obedience to the gospel. Once they've repented and are baptized, they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We're told that he is a seal guaranteeing our eternity. or guaranteeing our salvation. We also know that they had miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit at that time, but these were not given by baptism. This was something given by the laying on of the apostle's hands. It appears to have been for a very specific time in order to show that Jesus really was the son of God. But when that proof had been given, the miracles faded away and disappeared. But we still have this promise that everyone who repents and is baptized will receive forgiveness of their sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit, that seal of redemption. Well, he goes on and he points out this promise is for you and your children. It's not just for the the adults there that day, it's also going to be for their descendants. And he goes on to say, for all who are far off, in other words, not just the ones again that are there that day, but those who are everywhere in the world. And then he says, for all whom the Lord our God will With many other words, he warned them and he pleaded with them. Save yourselves from this corrupt generation. Again, the point is very clear. We have a part to do on our own to be saved. And Peter says save yourselves. Again, he's not denying grace. He's not denying the sacrifice of Christ. He's just saying you got your part to do. Don't be so lazy as to think it's all going to be done for you. And it says those who accepted the message were baptized and about 3, 000 were added to their number. That day. Well, this is where we come into contact with the church because in verse 47, it says the Lord added to their number daily. those who are being saved. The King James, the New King James Version say the Lord added to the church daily those who are being saved. And that's exactly what this number was. But notice those who heard the word, who believed it, accepted it, who repented of their sins, who were baptized while calling on the name of Christ, confessing the name of Christ, they were added to the church by God. And there you have it. How do I, how do I get in the church? And the answer is God adds you to the church upon your obedience to the gospel. Now, the reason this is so important, and the reason I believe this is so important in this context of the crisis that we seem to be facing right now is this, the church has got to be healthy. for us to get through the crisis. If all we're looking at is trying to get healthy physically, we're wasting our time. We have to make sure that first, that we're saved, that we're part of the church, and then we need to be doing our best to make sure the church is healthy. In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, In verse 17, the Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Corinth, and he says in the following directives, I have no praise for your, for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you. When we come together on the first day of the week as a church, we are specifically doing that to worship God and Christ, to break bread, to remember the Lord's death, burial, and resurrection until he comes. We sing songs of praise during that time. We hear the word read and preached upon. We we, we, we pray we, we give of our means on the first day of the week. And that giving, by the way, is very personal. That's something that, that's between you and God. We're told that it needs to be willing. It needs to be key in keeping with our income. It needs to be generous. It needs to be on the first day of every week, but you get to decide what the amount is and only you really know what's in keeping with your income. So that's private. But again, this was something that the church did when they got together. But the primary thing they did was to partake of the Lord's supper. It reminded them that they were there for a reason, that their sins had a cost and Jesus had paid that. And so when they came together as a church, it was very critical that they not have divisions among them when they got together to worship God. We have to make sure that the church is healthy to the point where we don't have divisions. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 12, talking about the church, it says the body is a unit. Though it's made up of many parts, you and me make up the church, don't we? Because God added us to the church when we obeyed the gospel. And he said, so it is with Christ, for we are all baptized by one spirit into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, we were all given one spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part, but of many. Again, the church is the body of Christ, and we're part of that body, and we all have different parts that we do. And in verse 24, it says God has combined the members of the body and, and so God has placed all of us together into this one body, into the church. We have a duty to make sure that the church is functioning well. We do need to gather to gather on the first day of the week. In Hebrews chapter 10, it tells us why. Starting in verse 23, it says, let us hold unswervingly to the hope that we profess for he who promised his faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on to love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another. One of the reasons that God has Christians to get together, meet together as a church, is so that we can encourage one another and build one another up. And I want to come back to this idea. It is so important for the church to be healthy. The primary thing that we need to be concerned with is, first and foremost, are we saved? Are our loved ones saved? Are those who we have an influence with saved? If they are, then they're part of the church. And the church is vital to the health of America. And so we need to make sure that there's no divisions within that church. And the way we do that is by coming into agreement with what the New Testament says, what the word of God says. We're not trying to agree with each other. We're trying to agree with God. And if I agree with God and you agree with God, then we're going to have agreement one with another and the church is going to be healthy. And then the church can help people because there's going to be some hard times if we're correct about the idea of a crisis. That's coming up and people are going to need help and I get a lot of help from the government. If they do, there's going to be strings attached to that. The church needs to be healthy enough to help people to love people. and help them get through whatever crisis that we may end up going through. It is vital for us to make sure that after we're saved that the next thing we're doing is to make sure the church is healthy. For those of you who are involved in the financial part of the church as you, you deacons and you, you elders and, and whoever, whoever it is, make sure that you're acting prudently with the funds that you're entrusted with. There's not a lot of need to, to go into great debt so you can build fancy structures. You can worship God without gold and silver plates all over everything in the building. The New Testament church in many instances just met together from house to house. As they got bigger, it's true that they did have buildings, and I believe it's pleasing to God when the buildings look nice and attractive, but we don't have to go into tremendous debt. Because by doing so, we're going to compromise the very church that we're hoping to, to, that will be a help to others if there is a crisis. And if the church is scrambling for funds, if every time you meet together, it's just another sermon by, by the preacher telling, telling you, we need more money, we need more money. They got their focus on the wrong thing. Maybe you should find another body of Christians to worship with if you can't convince them to get off of that bad habit. The church needs to make sure that it is fiscally sound. in order that it continue on, it can continue on to help others. The problems that we have coming up I believe are significant. The financial problems I believe are overwhelming right now if we try and do it without God and there's a lot of people that are going to be trying to do it without God and therefore they're going to be overwhelmed. They're going to need help. A strong church is going to be that hope, a body of loving Christians who welcome these people and who encourage these people who are struggling. I'm not talking about putting people on welfare as they come to the church for assistance. I'm not talking about that at all. But I am saying that we can lift one another's burdens. And there may be times that we can help them financially. Sometimes it's the spiritual help they need more than anything. The church needs to be healthy to do that. During the time of the revolution, the church was very strong in America. And it was the strength of that church that gave people the encouragement to be able to do the right thing. And it was also the strength of Christians after the conflict was over that helped to rebuild America into the new nation. that was going to be pleasing to God. When you read the documents of our founding fathers, from the Declaration of Independence, to the Constitution, to their private writings, you see people who were in love with God and in love with Christ, and who felt an allegiance to their church. We need to have that allegiance. We need to do everything we can to ensure that the church is healthy and strong, teaching the right things, having the right focus, and then getting on with the business of seeking and saving the lost and helping people who are struggling. The strength of the church is going to be the second thing when it comes to the crisis that we may be about to enter. And whether we enter one or not, the church needs to be strong and we need to be helping others come to Christ. We can do that only if we are strong as Christians and as part of the body of Christ, if we are strong as a collective as well, trying to serve God to the best of our ability in his way. We talked about the big rocks yesterday, making sure if you're going to be putting rocks and gravel and sand and water into a jar that you put the big rocks in first, otherwise they're not going to fit. Well, the first two big rocks are this, make sure you're saved. And the second is make sure that the church is healthy. In the next video, we're going to be talking about some of the physical preparations that we need to be making. I hope it's something that, that you're thinking about, that you're praying about, that you're sincerely trying to do in order to be a better servant of God and a better servant of Christ. And we'll talk about some strategies that I believe will be very useful to whether we have a crisis or not. Just to be more prudent with the things that you have, so that you can put your focus where it needs to be. Because if you're saved, nothing else really matters. And if you're not, for sure, nothing is going to matter on the Day of Judgment. Let's get first things first, and the first is, are you saved? The second is, is the church strong? something to think about. Thank you for listening today. I hope you'll come back next time. We will be talking about the physical preparations that we need to make. And I hope there'll be things that, that will help you to be stronger and a better servant of God. But until next time, I pray that God will richly bless you as you seek to serve him to the very best of your ability.