God's Church
by Pastor JW Olson
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Good Morning! I trust God has been blessing you by these studies and you are drawing ever nearer to Him! These studies go out to a lot of people around the world and we are blessed to, with your help and generous support, provide them! When I stated putting these up on the web, I had no idea the positive feedback I would receive! I was also not prepared for the number of questions I would need to be handling each week! Thank You all who have supported us in this ministry, you are GREAT! The post office made us get a larger mailbox and so far all that extra space has NOT been going to waste!
"I've been thinking of joining a church", you say, "but how do I know it is a good church? What should I really be looking for?" This is a hard question to answer as there are so many counterfeit churches out there today. You know those that call themselves Christian but you can't seem to find Christ there! The ones who seem to do everything BUT what Christ did!! This morning, I am going to give you a few of the things you need to know in order to find a correct church. This church is talked about in scripture and there are some unfailing points of identification, just like the points of a fingerprint a crime lab uses to determine whether or not the finger print belongs to the suspect or not! God's church would have His fingerprints all over it wouldn't it? Well then lets start. First off, you should be able to find God there! I'm not kidding! So in our checklist, Rule one states you must find God there! God is the stability of the church as He never changes! Mal 3:6
On to the next little rule, it will keep Gods commandments, not mans commands! This identifying point is one Jesus brought to attention often in the church while He was here and still today is a lack in a church claiming to be God's. As God is stable and unchanging, so are His Commandents! 1 John 2:3-5 brings this out very clearly. It states if we love Him, we will keep His commandments, and if we make such a bold statement as to say we know Him and don't keep His commandments, this passage calls us a liar! So then rule two, it must keep God's commandents! With these two rules alone you have narrowed your search down to less than a handful of churches! In fact you may have already discovered that there ISN'T a church in your town which can even meet these two points!
God's church adheres to God's scriptures as the only inspired source of truth and light! So then, Isaiah 8:20 gives us one more clue as to how to locate God's church! How much light is in those who teach contray to God's commandments and God's prophets? The use of scriptures is needed in God's church as2 Tim 3: states;
"16 Every scripture is divinely inspired, and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; 17 that the man of God may be complete, fully fitted to every good work. " Darby
God's church will have the scriptures open and using them for guidance in all instruction. There will be no secret doctrine, no manmade tradition, no disregard for scripture, no "good 'ol boys" power structure.
The true church would teach the Creator, creation is the act whereby God lays claim to the earth. Note the whole of the fourth commandment. It starts with the word "remember" as God already knew we would forget! Turning to Ex 20: we read:
" 8 Remember the sabbath day to hallow it. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; 10 but the seventh day is the sabbath of Jehovah thy God: thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy bondman, nor thy handmaid, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. 11 For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. " Darby
Okay a quick test question. We just read the commandment, whose Sabbath is it? That's right! The Creators! I get, alot of times by well meaning Christians attempting to understand me, this statement, "Oh yes, YOUR Sabbath is Saturday isn't it?" I reply "
No, it isn't mine, I did not make it. It is God's Sabbath and I merely remember it!" By the way, did you know Jesus was there at Creation? What was His role? I'm not going to tell you, you'll have to look it up! John 1:1-3, 14, Eph 3:9, Heb 1:1-2 So whose Commandments are they anyway?
God's church will study prophecy. What good would God's telling us what is going to happen if we leave the book closed? God told us what would happen so we might not be caught unaware and to prepare us for what is about to happen. Even prophecy which has happened is useful to us in that it shows God's word is sure! Revelation was NEVER a closed book and infact the name means to reveal! The book also gives a blessing to those who read it, and who hear it! Rev 1:3 So you COULD reap a double blessing if you read it out loud to yourself!! Daniel on the other hand was closed and sealed. Dan 12:4 but till when? That is right! Until the time of the end! So it too is now an open book and understandable! God's church will be able to show you were you are in the history of this world!
God's church will teach how Jesus became our sacrificial lamb without spot or blemish and will NOT minimize what this great sacrifice on the part of God means to each and every one of us. His blood is what washed our sins away. God's love for His creation gave the symbols of sacrifice right in Eden so man could understand to process of salvation. It was sin which cause innocent blood to be shed and the life of that innocent covers us so no sin is seen there! It has not happened quite yet but it is very close, the heavenly sanctuary of which the sanctuary of Moses time was a model is to be cleansed of all forgiven sin. Every sin ever forgiven in the whole of earth's history is to be cleaned out of the sanctuary! The Great day of atonement is upon us and all those sins are to be moved out of the sanctuary and onto the head of the scape goat! God's church will study understand and know that process!
God's church will teach Jesus' words, especially those which promised his sure return! Jesus said he was going to prepare a place for us that were he is there may we be also! Great news! We are NOT abandoned on this sinfilled earth! Jesus said how He would show up, with loud noises, thunderclaps, blowing trumpets, a loud voice which opens the graves and brings forth the righteous dead, people raising out of the grave and living people joining them to meet Christ in the air! What part of any of this sound secret? God's church will teach Jesus' return in the manner Jesus said it would happen! He is the one coming, not some preacher, so He should know what He intends to do don'tcha think? One BIG point here, Jesus is not to step foot on this earth until AFTER it has been cleansed of sin by fire! All sin will have been burned up before His foot touches the earth! So then a question for you. Is he off in the desert somewhere over there by Hanford or something meditating? That's right! A great big NO! That is Not what Jesus said would happen and Jesus is not going to go back on His promises is He?
Well, time has caught up with us again this week. For a little "detective work" this week, go out visiting all the churches in your area and see if it is possible to find a few which fit this set of fingerprints! Let me know how you come out! Also remember to pray! God will lead if you let Him. Don't be bullheaded or headstrong but allow Jesus your shepherd to herd you and you'll be on His path!
May God be with you each day and lets joyfully look forward to going home!
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