By Pastor Paulson
Touchet Bible Believer Baptist Church
This sermon is a result
of talking with many many people who can't find a church to attend anymore
nowadays - either because of doctrinal differences or just no KJV church in
town! Just how serious of a problem is this. Read on!
We believe that the King James Bible is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice. We sing the old hymns of yester-year and don't cater to the new music in todays churches; we don't even have fancy music specials nor do we need to bring in the professional singing groups - we sing our own songs, hymns and spritual songs ourselves!
We have 6 missionaries that we support financially along with many more with prayers and e-mail encouragements. We have been blessed with many evangelists that have preached up blessings, rebukings, etc. and yet have not left us with more wounded & bleeding folks - God has worked in those lives. In fact, we are thrilled and honoured in who actually has preached in our pulpit over the last few years.
We all meet together 3 times a week - sometimes more - we have almost the same folks come to all three services - not the usual percentage of 'Sunday morning vs evening and the 'real' family on Wednesday night' thing! We do not support the town public school system - we encourage homeschooling and will help anyone who requests help - the pastor is a former school music/band teacher.
We visit nursing homes & retirement centers and provide old fashioned singing with their favorite instruments - accordion & piano - along with KJV Bible preaching. We have been on the streets doing the same. The pastor is taken care of with food and prayers and has very few cares! We have many activities including eating, eating and more eating. We enjoy shooting activities -we have 'carriers' in our church - we burn trash and regularly have campfires out at one of our church family's farms. We can even still poison insects & don't worry about a bird eating a radioactive bug - which then falls dead out of the sky and gets being eaten by a cougar - which is then eaten by a bear who bites and kills the man from the original bug poison in his system. Environmentalists are not welcome at this church except to repent from their wicked and stupid ways, as are all sinners be they queer, drunks, smokers and party goers or the wealthy and well-to-do folks. The doors are open!
We even have a web site that has been well read around the
world and has generated a lot of blessings - friendly & non-friendly.
But lately, as I talk with people daily from around the United States and around the world over the internet, I have observed that there are hundreds - even thousands of good Bible-believing people who either have to drive a long distance to find a 'church' like we have - and many who just CAN NOT attend even a 'fair' KJV 'church' at all. THERE ARE FEWER AND FEWER GOOD CHURCHES to attend or to recommend to someone every day. When I assist someone in their salvation over the internet, follow up with discipleship is of uttmost importance. The many folks who have read the material on our site and have more questions are in need of a good church to provide answers. And most of the time, as a pastor trying to show these folks a place to attend, I am not able to refer them to any bible believing 'church'. That is a frustrating thing for me, as a pastor.
I know of many good Bible-believing folks who can not even go
to a 'church' at all - Good'churches' do not exist in many BIG CITIES any more
than in the small communities - or in this country - or all over this
world. How about you?
When the Lord saw the people as sheep not having a shepherd, what did He do? HE began to teach them many things. He didn't send them to anyone else - He didn't send to anyplace else. HE began to teach them. True, there was no PLACE to send them at this time, but do notice that HE was the one He knew they needed!
In fact, it was His disciples who said to
'send them away' to get their bread (verses 35,
36). And in order for those scattered
'sheep' to be taught, they knew they had to go to HIM as He told them so.
And thus a miracle was about to take place - the feeding of the
5,000!
Sheep scatter because they have no shepherd to herd them together. Sheep scatter because they don't get fed and so they must go 'out' and look for food. Of course, there are always those sheep that choose to skip the fence away from a shepherd, and of course, there are those sheep who reject their shepherd and his food that he is serving. But in the Laodicean church age, it appears that the scriptures put quite a bit of responsibility also on the pastors.
For the pastors are become brutish, and
have not sought the LORD:
therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be
scattered.
Behold,
the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north
country,
Jer
10:21
Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard,
they have trodden my portion under foot,
they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
They have
made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto me;
the whole land is made desolate,
because no man layeth it to heart.
Jer 12:10,11
Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and
scatter the sheep of my pasture!
saith the LORD. Therefore thus saith the LORD
God of Israel
against
the pastors that feed my people;
Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away,
and have not visited them:
behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the
LORD.
Jer
23:1,2
The intent of this study is also not to do a deep study on 'church. Of course, it is very important to attend a church - a kjv bible believing church - and there are truly many scriptural reasons. If you have one in town, go to it. Get some hard preaching - sing those praises - give that money - support those missionaries, etc. But let me show you a dangerous trend brought on lately by more and more Baptist KJV churches today.
But if I tarry long, that thou
mayest know
how thou
oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God,
which is the church of the living God, the pillar
and ground of the truth.
I Tim 3:15
But you see, that is how the Catholic system is set up. The Pope claims that he is the actual authority for the church and then the final authority is all in one place - the church. Doesn't sound too much different than many Baptist churches, today.
Many of the Baptists are saying the same thing though, and many of them realize it. Briders, for example, say that a person must be baptised within that specific local church - otherwise they are not part of the bride of Christ. There are many slight variations within each local church in those regards. Then there are those who preach that the church is the final authority, and with the pastor being the head of the local church, HE is your final authority in all things. You, as a church 'member', must always do things with your pastors' approval and awareness. They take you to Hebrews to prove the verses to show you your pastor is your authority. Pastoral authority, they call it.
In fact, there are so many different
baptists with their various opinions on these matters, the best thing to do is
just go to the scriptures to shed the necessary light on this confusing and
damaging subject of sheep scattering.
John 14:21-23 tells the story of how Judas (not Iscariot) asked Jesus how He was going to manifest Himself to His people, but not to the world. Jesus answered him in verse 23 and told Judas that it was going to be through His WORDS. Not the church - not the pastor - but through His Words!
Read it. That is what it says. WORDS!!!!!
Yes, Jesus Christ died for the 'church' in Eph 5:25, but we must also remember that Jesus also
died for his sheep in John 10:14.
The church is the body of Christ - and this is explained fully in I Cor 12 and in Col 1. In fact, the Bible is very clear that we, as saved born-again christians, WE are the temple of God. The local church - all thousands of them - is not the body of Christ. WE are! We are part of his body! We are in the same body as a christian in Russia because Christ is in us and we are in Him.
Know ye not that ye are the
temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
I Cor 3:16
What?
know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in
you,
which ye have of
God, and ye are not your own?
I Cor 6:1
The church is YOU! It is not
any special local assembly! Yes, we are scripturally commanded to gather
together as christians, but that local assembly is not your FINAL
AUTHORITY. It is not THEEE church.
What is the gist of this article so far?
When we get saved, we become the 'house' of God - the temple of the Holy Ghost. WE become the church as we are part of the body of Christ. Many call this the invisible church, but call it what you want - we are in the same body as a Christian in Argentina. WE have the Lord living in us. The Lord Himself, through the Holy Spirit speaking to us with those scriptures, HE is our final authority, which makes our written word of God - the KJV 1611 in English our FINAL Authority. His words that He promised in John 14.
God calls us to gather together in what is
called the church, meaning a local assembly. An independent assembly can
claim the KJV Bible as their final authority as well, and should. But the
final authority for the people in that church is the Word of God - not the
pastor! Not the church!
The point is this: All the miserable, frustrated and lonely people out in this country WITHOUT a local church to go attend whine and cry about being lonely and out of the will of God because they are not growing all because they don't have a local church to attend. All they have to do is sit down, open their KJV bible and they can do all that God would have them do - the same as in a local church.
Yes, with all the reasons that God would have us go to a local church of such, if one CAN NOT, one does not need to feel abandoned and missing the blessings of God.
THEY are the church. The father is to be the spiritual guide in the family, so dad, start a local gathering within your own family. You have the truth in the KJV 1611 - get busy with your 'flock'.
Those of you out there in churchless land, get yourself a KJV bible and sit yourself or your family down and preach and teach. Sing to the Lord and about the Lord - send money to some missionaries, etc. Get yourself a little 'home-church' and ask God to bless it.
Yes, the Lord did give special people in your life called pastors, evangelists, etc. Eph 4:1-16, but they are only part of the plan. YOU are the very temple of God - your church is not God's temple. Your church and your pastor are NOT your final authority. Yes, you should talk with them about things - there are plenty of verses that say that - you should ask him for direction, etc. but he is not your authority.
If you have not church to visit/attend...if you have no pastor in your life...it is not all over for you! God will still send you a pastor - or a teacher - or an evangelist. That can even happen today over this web computer stuff. There is great preaching available. There are great sermons on-line. With your Bible open, you can tell if they are wolves in sheeps clothing, can't you? Can't you?
If not, then still check with a reliable
faith believing KJV pastor and ask him. But don' let him become your final
authority - you don't need a pope!
According to that above verse, there will be folks that will die, of course, as they witness for Jesus Christ himself! Spreading the word about true Biblical salvation will send some people to their own funeral. It always has, it still does and it will continue to do so in the future - especially in the Tribulation.
But read on - another set of people will also die. Those that are witnessing the word of God - the Bible! So it appears that the Bible - in these days, the KJV 1611, is worth dieing over. It must be the most important thing next to Jesus Christ, amen. The world hates Jesus Christ and it hates the word of God!
Why? Because the word of God - the KJV 1611 - is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice. THAT is our final authority. Not a church - not a pastor. Let me say it again so I am not misunderstood. You need a church to go to if you can, but God doesn't ever promise that to us. You may already realize that, amen - because you have no church to attend. You need a pastor in your life. But you don't have to have a pastor in order for you to hear from God.
So, if you have the right church in town - go to it! If you don't have the right church to attend, then remember, YOU are the real church - the body of Christ. You have a direct line to and from God through Jesus Christ and His words through the Holy Spirit. Get busy with it and do everything you would do if you did attend a local church.
People died for Jesus Christ!
People died for the Word of God!
There is no need to die - or go to jail, etc. for any local church. We don't even NEED the building, and as this world gets more and more against the KJV book - there will be fewer and fewer churches to attend.
Forget the briders - forget the Landmarkers - forget those baptist popes. You have the Saviour and you have His words. What else do you need? Get with it and be a doer of the word! You'll live and God will continue to provide the truth to you and to your family.
He blessed my family with a home church for over a year and
then he finally sent us a pastor to a local church that didn't teach pastoral
authority - didn't teach the need for Greek - didn't teach the baptist bride
garbage - didn't teach anything but the KJV 1611 and preached to his people to
read it!
You need to even quit those unscriptural popish catholic baptist churches!
Somente use Bíblias traduzidas do Texto Tradicional (aquele perfeitamente preservado por Deus em ininterrupto uso por fieis): BKJ-1611 ou LTT (Bíblia Literal do Texto Tradicional, com notas para estudo) na bvloja.com.br. Ou ACF, da SBTB.