Why Having Fellowship with Other Believers is Important

Are you a quarter-tank Christian? Are you even a half-tank Christian? Or are you one of those Christians who are in church every Sunday, Wednesday or when the doors are open because you just can't seem to get enough, and as a result you are always energized and rarin' to go, walking in with a smile and a zeal? If you are one of those Christians who are just the Sunday morning kind, (You know, the kind who fills up on Sunday morning then by the next Sunday your spiritual engine is spittin' and putterin' as you drag yourself into the pew...) then maybe you need more Fellowship with the Lord.

As my pastor puts it: "You don't attend church to GET saved. You attend church because you ARE saved." If you go out on Friday night and get plastered, then come on Sunday, you have broken fellowship with The Lord. Don't you want that Fellowship all the time? If you are plastered, then you are NOT AVAILABLE to do God's work. This is what is meant by "not having fellowship". I don't think I could call on you to come help me if you are passed out drunk somewhere.

As Christians, we need each other. It's up to us to BE God's hands and feet on this earth, and when we do, we need to make sure we are IN the WILL of the FATHER. We need to stay rooted and knowledgeable in the Word, so that we can comfort each other and lift each other up according to the Word of God.

You need to find you a Bible teaching, Jesus Preaching, Washed in the Blood Spirit-filled church and go as often as you can. All that anxiety and depression you feel during the week will disappear! You will be more energized, and you will start LOOKING for what you can do to serve Him! And, believe me, when you start staying busy focusing on Him, you ain't focusing on yourself as much; it REALLY helps.

John 1:7 says: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." This means that when you are with fellow believers, they not only should uplift you spiritually, but also hold you accountable in love -- and THAT is a two way street. You also uplift them and hold THEM accountable, and as such, you appreciate one another. This is why it is important to have fellowship with other believers. And, while going to church isn't the only way to have fellowship with other believers, it IS the recommended way, in that the Word of God is preached and taught, and ministry opportunities outside of the church are introduced.

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Declining Christianity

The Pew Research Center released the results of a poll last week showing a dramatic drop in the number of people who claim to be Christians in America. Over a period of only seven years, the number went down eight percentage points — from 79% to 71%. Meanwhile, the number of those who claim to be atheists, agnostics, or “nothing in particular” went up from 16% to 23%.

Headlines across the nation ballyhooed the news. But closer examination shows that it’s hardly a victory for the forces of secularization. National Review’s David Paul Kuhn put the poll in perspective. “The share of Americans who identify as Christian has been declining for years,” he wrote. “The share of religious Americans has not. For about 75 years, despite periodic fluctuations, the Gallup Poll has found that approximately four in 10 Americans say they attend religious services at least once a week. Religious Americans made up the same share of the presidential electorate in 2012 as they did twelve years earlier, 42 percent.”

The eight percentage point drop that Pew found comes primarily from people who weren’t serious about faith in the first place. They didn’t attend regular services, and religious faith wasn’t a big deal in their lives. Also, the old line, extremely liberal denominations continue their decline.

Read the rest of this article at The Hal Lindsey Report by clicking HERE

Minister Who Denies God’s Existence: I Don’t Appreciate Being Told I’m Not a Christian

A Presbyterian USA minister in Oregon who says that he doesn’t believe in God—and doesn’t require his members to believe either–remarked in a recent article that he is offended by those who assert that he is not a Christian.

“The concept of ‘God’ is a product of myth-making and ‘God’ is no longer credible as a personal, supernatural being,” he wrote in a blog post on his site “Shuck and Jive.” “Jesus may have been historical, but most of the stories about Him in the Bible and elsewhere are legends.”

But Shuck says that although he rejects the Bible as being literal, and denies the existence of Heaven and Hell, he takes offense when people tell him that he’s not a Christian.

However, others state that Shuck’s assertion that one can be a Christian without faith in the saving power of Christ is faulty, and that his words make evident that he does not understand what it means to be a Christian.

Read the whole story at Christian News Network