What Kind Of A Church Are You Looking For?

Temple Baptist Church - 10-4-2015

Psalm 27:1-5

Introduction: 

A.  I may preach from these verses for a couple of weeks.  Someone used these verses and preached on the subject “What Kind Of A Church Are You Looking For?”  I am not going to use his message though it was a great one but I do want to preach along the same lines.

B.  Most people never really known what “real” church is all about.

1.  The world, along with the Bible Belt, has lost sight of what a church is to be and to stand for.  Church in our day bears no resemblance to what God intended it to be.  Most traditional churches are not a shadow of what they once were and these new stand for nothing churches have no biblical concept of what a New Testament Church is to be like.  Churches are becoming entertainment centers for the world; a place where the unsaved can come and be comfortable while offering their newfangled praise to a thrice holy God!

2.  Most people do not want a good church!  I was so disappointed the other day when one of my neighbors, who is lost, told me that he was going to a liberal, worldly church in Greenville, SC now.  I have witnessed and invited the family to Temple Baptist Church and let them know that it was a good church that stood for something but Temple was not an option to them.  Why?  Because they see my wife and I on a daily basis:  they know how we act, they see how we dress, they watch as we pull out of our driveway every time the church is having services, they have never seen us smoke, drink, they have never heard us use bad language and we have tried to be a witness to them!  I am not angry or hurt because I am so glad that our testimony in the neighborhood is a godly one!  I am hurt for my neighbors whom I love and count as friends.

C.  It made me think about why people do not want what we have.

1.  People want a church where they can come as they are and worship because the church they attend has no concept of biblical holiness! Casual churches are casual with God!  Each time people in the Bible came into God’s presence, they removed their shoes from their feet because they were on holy ground or fell face down to the ground in His presence.  By the way, God’s people always fell forward on their faces and not backwards.  The only ones who fell backwards when the Lord came around were the lost.

2.  People want a church where the preaching is always exhortational while Paul told Timothy to reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.  We are called judgmental but are simply preaching a sharp, two edged sword instead of a dull one that cuts only one way.

3.  People want a church where the music feeds the flesh instead of the soul.  True worship is to be done in the beauty of holiness, not in worldliness.  I have watched these performers enough to know that they are worldly people trying to worship a thrice holy God.

4.  People want a church where only the sins of others are preached on.  A church where they can be comfortable in their sin, comfortable in the pew, and comfortable with God.  They go where the preachers allows them to hold the Lord Jesus Christ in one hand and their sin in the other.  Preaching on sin has become a thing of the past as the pews are now filled with it and the preachers like their jobs!

5.  People want a church where there is no accountability and nothing is required of them.  They can come to church or just not show up.  A true pastor cares when you miss church!  I watch the doors and am filled with joy when each of you walk in because I care.  I am filled with sadness when you miss, even for the right reasons, because I miss seeing and being with you.

6.  People want a church where their children are entertained.  Children need a good dose of King James Bible more than they need a spiritual baby sitter.  I am all for working with kids, but the world has much more entertainment to offer and, eventually, the children will migrate to where the “fun” is.

D.  I want a church where my hide is occasionally skinned and my soul is constantly fed!  I love it when the Word of God shows me what I am and points me to the One who can help and change me.  I want a church where the conviction can almost be felt and the Holy Spirit has the liberty to work.  I want a church where the King James Bible is upheld and heralded as the Word of God.  I want a church where the Word of God has free course and can run and flow as the Holy Spirit directs.  I want a church where the songs are scriptural and the singers are holy.  I want a church that magnifies the Bible and glorifies the Son of God!  That is what I look for in a church!

E.  What should a biblical church be like?

1.  A Biblical Church Should Be A Place of Gladness - Psalms 122:1  I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD. 

2.  A Biblical Church Should Be A Place of Seeking - Psalms 63:1  O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; 

3.  A Biblical Church Should Be A Place of Anticipation - Psalms 63:2  To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. 

4.  A Biblical Church Should Be A Place of Affection - Psalms 84:1  How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! 

5.  A Biblical Church Should Be A Place of Excitement - Psalms 42:4  When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. 

6.  A Biblical Church Should Be A Place of Necessity - Psalms 84:2  My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.

7.  A Biblical Church Should Be A Place of Contentment - Psalms 84:10  For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.