We are the Church and the Church is for Everyone!

Written by Amanda Allums 

Although it may seem like this world is becoming more and more wicked as the years go on, sin has always been here. Since the fall of man, there has been sin and wickedness because Satan will never give up on trying to take as many people down with him as he can. He is miserable and full of nothing but hate and, as the scripture says in 1 Peter 5:8, “He roams around like a lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

The Bible also says in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” So, why do we feel as if there is so much more wickedness and terrible things happening in this day and age? There are many reasons, but I am just going to mention a couple of my own theories:

1. We have access to so much information online (news, social media, etc.), and no matter where we go, we can access information any time we please so we can instantly see all of the terrible things going on around the world at any given moment. 
2. We have only been on this earth for as long as we have been alive, so we can only compare what we have seen and heard with what we actually know by studying history. If you haven’t studied much history, then you wouldn’t know that things that are happening today have already happened in the past. It may not look exactly the same, but the template of sin is there. All sin comes and has always come from the same place: Satan himself. 

Satan would love nothing more than for us to allow the wickedness of this world to depress us, rob us of our peace and joy, disturb our sleep, and place fear in our hearts. He wants us to think there’s no way to live a holy life in Jesus in this messed up world. 

So, how do we, as Christians, live in such a place without losing our minds and our salvation? And, how do we lead others to Christ who also live in this world and do not know Him? 
I am going to give you 3 answers, but I am going to expand only on the third.

1. Read your Bible, comprehend what it is saying and allow Jesus to speak to you. Then, apply it to your life. You will see that no matter what this world throws our way, we have hope in Jesus Christ! 
2. Pray! Pray again. Pray some more, and keep praying every day.
3. Go to church. We need to be surrounded by like-minded believers. We need each other to be encouraged, learn from each other, pray for each other, and help each other. 

I love the way the NLT phrases the scripture in Hebrews 10:25. It says, “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of His return is drawing near.” This was written in the 1st Century, yet, even in that day and age, the Christians were expecting Jesus’ return to be imminent just like we are today. They felt the same thing we feel today. The persecution, the violence, and the acts of sin against each other were so terrible, that they also felt Jesus had to be near. 

We do not know the day or the hour of when Jesus will come back for us, but we do know the Bible tells us to go and make disciples so we can bring as many people with us to meet Jesus face-to-face one day. That is what drives the engine of our church! This world is wicked and we know that Jesus could come any moment, so we do everything we can, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to lead others to Christ. We need to be working harder winning people for Christ than the devil is winning them for his evil kingdom. But to do that, we need to put on the full armor of God and make sure our armor is intact and our weapons are sharpened. We do that by hearing the word in church. “Faith comes by hearing…” (Romans 10:17). Our faith is built up and we gain so much confidence and wisdom by being surrounded by others who are walking out their life in the same world we are. We gain encouragement, strength, wisdom, and knowledge; and these are things that the devil cannot take away. 

So, if you are feeling discouraged, or maybe have gotten out of the habit of coming to church, or maybe aren’t as involved as you should be or want to be, let me give you a stepping stone:
You need church. You need the people in the church. No one will ever be perfect, only Jesus gets that title, but that’s what is so beautiful about the body of Christ. We each have our part and we are a piece of the body that makes up the whole. We all have something that we can offer, but most importantly, we offer our praise to Jesus for what He did on the cross. And there is something so powerful about corporate worship too! He suffered so we can bring our suffering to Him. Don’t try to live life alone. And don’t think that anything is ever too bad or too far gone for God. He has shown us every example of suffering there is in His Word, so we can have the assurance that there’s nothing that He can’t handle. 

If it’s fear you need to lay down, do it at an altar. If it is questions you have, confide in a fellow Christian. If it’s doubt, be encouraged in a community connection. Overall, Jesus is the answer and, although He can be found anywhere, He resides in our church and the atmosphere is saturated with the Holy Spirit when we come together in worship, and that is where miracles can happen! We can’t wait for things to get better before we step out on faith and truly become a servant of Christ, because we are the ones who make it better through Jesus. So, if you have been looking for a sign, or needing confirmation to step out on faith, this is it. And I will leave you with something God told me a couple of weeks ago: He can take our stumbling blocks and turn them into stepping stones! All we have to do is step out on faith.