Mega Church (from Acts 2):
I think we have this whole idea of church backwards. It is not a place we go, or a building, a social club, an institution of man, or an incorporation (business), which is marketed just like a business. It is a spiritual entity made up of true followers of Jesus Christ. We are not supposed to bring the world into our meetings and make it entertaining for them. When the true church gathers together, it should be for the nurturing, discipleship, fellowship, teaching, encouragement and strengthening of the body of Christ so that we can go out into the world and let our lights shine to all men (mankind), and to prepare us for attacks of the enemy, i.e. for spiritual warfare.
If we bring the world into the gathering of Christ's followers, and we make it entertaining for them so they will want to come back, and we dilute the gospel of Jesus Christ so as not to offend anyone, then all we are providing is a big nice Christianized social club which is a mixture of the world, idolatry, paganism and Christianity all blended together. So, whether small or mega, if the church has become an institution of men driven by men's teachings, philosophies and marketing schemes in order to "draw in large crowds of people," then it is no longer the church. The church may exist within it, but the church exists everywhere - in WalMart, Target, Ruby Tuesdays, Panera Bread, the mall, etc.
The church is supposed to be the body of Christ, and our gatherings should be for the purpose of preparing the body for ministry, evangelism, discipleship and for the growth and the development of the members of the body "as each part does its work." When we gather together we should operate in the parts of the body as GOD assigned each one of us, not as assigned by man, and we should operate in the spiritual giftedness that the Spirit of God has given each one of us, not in the roles and responsibilities instituted of men. And, our meetings should be led of the Spirit of God, not driven by books written by men and marketing schemes of men. The gatherings of the true church need to fall under human Spirit-led leadership, but they must still be Spirit-fed and Spirit-led, which so many, many are not.
If the unsaved are coming into our churches, and they enjoy it and want to come back, doesn't that tell you that something is wrong? Our church leaders try so hard to make the "church" attractive to the world using worldly methods, but what are they attracting the world to? Isaiah said that Jesus was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with suffering and that people hid their faces from him and that there was nothing in him (in his flesh) to attract us to him. About the gospel the Bible says that it is a sweet aroma to those who are being saved, but a stench of death to those who are not. It says that the true gospel is an offense to the unsaved, and that when we share the true gospel that we will be hated, persecuted, abandoned, ostracized, ridiculed, mocked, beaten and even killed for our testimony for Jesus Christ. So, if the world loves today's church, doesn't that say that something is wrong? The world should not be comfortable being among us, and we should not be comfortable being a part of this world and its worldly methods.
In so many of today's churches in America the gospel is diluted to the point of no longer resembling the true gospel. Death to self and sin, dying to what once enslaved us, and choosing to do a U-turn and follow the Lord Jesus Christ in obedience and surrender of our wills to his will is rarely being taught with the message of salvation. So many have gone to a feel-good gospel that requires nothing of the sinner other than to "believe," without really even explaining what it means to "believe." The Bible says that even the demons believe and they shudder, and it says that many will come to God on the day of judgment and say "Didn't we do this in your name?" and he is going to say, "I never knew you. Depart from me." I agree that if people are truly flocking to Jesus Christ by the hundreds each week that there should be an outbreak of revival that should sweep across this nation, yet the hundreds may be coming, instead, to a false gospel that promises heaven with no death to self and sin and with no following the Lord Jesus in obedience, and many will hear on that day, "I never knew you!" And, that breaks my heart!!
I think we have this whole idea of church backwards. It is not a place we go, or a building, a social club, an institution of man, or an incorporation (business), which is marketed just like a business. It is a spiritual entity made up of true followers of Jesus Christ. We are not supposed to bring the world into our meetings and make it entertaining for them. When the true church gathers together, it should be for the nurturing, discipleship, fellowship, teaching, encouragement and strengthening of the body of Christ so that we can go out into the world and let our lights shine to all men (mankind), and to prepare us for attacks of the enemy, i.e. for spiritual warfare.
If we bring the world into the gathering of Christ's followers, and we make it entertaining for them so they will want to come back, and we dilute the gospel of Jesus Christ so as not to offend anyone, then all we are providing is a big nice Christianized social club which is a mixture of the world, idolatry, paganism and Christianity all blended together. So, whether small or mega, if the church has become an institution of men driven by men's teachings, philosophies and marketing schemes in order to "draw in large crowds of people," then it is no longer the church. The church may exist within it, but the church exists everywhere - in WalMart, Target, Ruby Tuesdays, Panera Bread, the mall, etc.
The church is supposed to be the body of Christ, and our gatherings should be for the purpose of preparing the body for ministry, evangelism, discipleship and for the growth and the development of the members of the body "as each part does its work." When we gather together we should operate in the parts of the body as GOD assigned each one of us, not as assigned by man, and we should operate in the spiritual giftedness that the Spirit of God has given each one of us, not in the roles and responsibilities instituted of men. And, our meetings should be led of the Spirit of God, not driven by books written by men and marketing schemes of men. The gatherings of the true church need to fall under human Spirit-led leadership, but they must still be Spirit-fed and Spirit-led, which so many, many are not.
If the unsaved are coming into our churches, and they enjoy it and want to come back, doesn't that tell you that something is wrong? Our church leaders try so hard to make the "church" attractive to the world using worldly methods, but what are they attracting the world to? Isaiah said that Jesus was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with suffering and that people hid their faces from him and that there was nothing in him (in his flesh) to attract us to him. About the gospel the Bible says that it is a sweet aroma to those who are being saved, but a stench of death to those who are not. It says that the true gospel is an offense to the unsaved, and that when we share the true gospel that we will be hated, persecuted, abandoned, ostracized, ridiculed, mocked, beaten and even killed for our testimony for Jesus Christ. So, if the world loves today's church, doesn't that say that something is wrong? The world should not be comfortable being among us, and we should not be comfortable being a part of this world and its worldly methods.
In so many of today's churches in America the gospel is diluted to the point of no longer resembling the true gospel. Death to self and sin, dying to what once enslaved us, and choosing to do a U-turn and follow the Lord Jesus Christ in obedience and surrender of our wills to his will is rarely being taught with the message of salvation. So many have gone to a feel-good gospel that requires nothing of the sinner other than to "believe," without really even explaining what it means to "believe." The Bible says that even the demons believe and they shudder, and it says that many will come to God on the day of judgment and say "Didn't we do this in your name?" and he is going to say, "I never knew you. Depart from me." I agree that if people are truly flocking to Jesus Christ by the hundreds each week that there should be an outbreak of revival that should sweep across this nation, yet the hundreds may be coming, instead, to a false gospel that promises heaven with no death to self and sin and with no following the Lord Jesus in obedience, and many will hear on that day, "I never knew you!" And, that breaks my heart!!
For which they wont accept me into pastoral support though 
