Have you stopped going to Church ?
Followers of the Messiah - a guide for those who have stopped going to Church
If you have stopped going to Church, or, are just interested in this subject, the questions of WHY ?, & What to do now ?,
with their answers, will almost certainly appeal to you.
A quick GOOGLE search on the number of people who describe themselves as Christian in America, has shown that there has been a drop from 78.4% in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014, according to the Pew Research Centre (2015). Barna.com, a Christian Research organisation, in April 2016, estimated that of these, only 31% attended Church regularly.
Could the following, be some of the reasons for you, stopping going to Church ?
The gospel & many sermons taught, seems different to the one in the Bible
The institutional Church seemed inappropriate
The biblical Yahushua (Jesus) can be hard to find in Church
Women & men aren’t treated equally
The Church is totally about preserving itself
Everyone is expected to believe exactly alike
The Church was less welcoming of the poor, the unlovely, & the homeless
The Church does not welcome those who ask questions, or those who disagree with leadership
There are often “cliques” in Church
I wasn’t able to share what I believe Yahweh (God) gave me with others
I wasn’t able to receive what others had received from Yahweh
Some of the institutional Church wasn’t biblical
Church was always predictable
My denomination hasn’t taught me how to really study Yahweh’s Word
The Church doesn’t teach, or do, what the New Testament Yahushua did.
Q: Are you someone who can resonate with some, or all of the above ?
Q: Are you a person who senses that they have been called out from Church ?
Q: Are you just someone who feels that their peace has been disturbed, & that something is wrong, or that something is missing ?
Please realise that you are not alone !
We too, with many others, have also had this same experience of coming out of Church.
I wonder what you think of this statement ?
“Our experience, both personally, & from connecting with others, indicates that the reasons for leaving Church, may differ from person to person, but we believe that ultimately, our heavenly Father has ‘seriously disturbed our peace’, because He wanted to get our attention”.
Once we realised that our shalom (peace) was seriously disturbed, we began to ask, to seek, & to knock, (Matt 7:1-14 & Luke 11:9-10), in an effort to restore our shalom (peace).
WE STARTED TO QUESTION, & RE-EXAMINE A LOT OF THINGS, that we thought we believed, including :
Who is “God” ?
What is the Bible, & what does it tell us about God & His Messiah ?
Why did God create the universe and us ?
What does God want us to do ?
What does God want us to be ?
How do I really know, that what I’ve been taught, & believed, what I've heard, seen or viewed, is valid, accurate & true ?
OUR LIST of POSSIBLE QUESTIONS, continued
What is the Creator’s name ?
Are names important ?
Who is the Messiah (Christ) ?
Is the Messiah’s name Jesus ?
What do we really know about the Messiah's parents ?
What was He taught, & what did He do ?
Have we been taught what the Messiah believed, & what He did ?
When did the Church begin ?
Who were the first, Messianic believers ?
What did those first believers in Messiah, do in the 1st century ?
What evidence do we have for the beliefs we have been taught ?
Who are the chosen people of God ?
When is the biblical Sabbath ?
Do we believe, & do, anything that the 1st century Messianic believers didn’t do ?
The list could go on, and on !
In an attempt to find answers to these, & other questions, we may ask others, & most likely, we will check the Internet for possible insights. We noticed, that this can be even more confusing, & so we asked the very important question, “how do we know, if what we discover, is actually correct ?”
At some point in this process, we started to realise that, we are on a journey into Yahweh’s truth. It is an expedition out of confusion, into clarity !
As we continued to progress, it occurred to us to consider where we are now, & contrast that, with where are we supposed to be.
We noticed that we needed a “reality check” ! We carefully asked, “who am I”, & this resulted in a search for our real identity.
It was about this point, that we personally understood, that the biblical names of the Creator, & His Messiah were important.
We began using their Hebrew names – Yahweh is the heavenly Father’s name, yod-hey-vav-hey in Hebrew, translated as LORD, & that Yahushua, is His Messiah’s Hebrew name. You may know Him as Jesus.
We realized that “God” was not a name, but a description, or a title.
An interesting ANALOGY
We started to appreciate, & understand more about our Saviour, Yahushua. The River & Riverbank ANALOGY helped.
In the analogy, Yahushua is the river, but we have been on the riverbank. He wants us to come from the riverbank, & get into the river, & live our lives in the same way that He did, when He was on Earth.
We are comfortable on our riverbank – the water looks cold, & possibly dangerous. Perhaps we want to put our toe into the river, or splash some water on our faces, but we are very reluctant to get into the river.
Some use a “flying fox” or “zip ride”, that goes from one river bank to the other – going from one source of confusion, Christianity, to another source of confusion, Judaism.
Riverbanks can refer to the World, or again, to the different Christian denominations, or Judaism – they are everything, that is not “the river”.
We’ve grown up living our lives on the riverbank, but now, as a result of the disturbance of our shalom (peace), we realise that we are supposed to be, “in the river”.
There is no place in Scripture where we are supposed to fix the riverbank. Once people realise that they are supposed to be in the river, they want to fix the riverbank – by taking buckets of river water, & throwing it on the riverbank, or giving it to those still on the riverbank. We are only ever told to “come out of her My people”, & get into the river. It is Father Yahweh’s job to “fix the riverbank”.
Can you relate to this analogy ?
Aren’t we all on a journey that is about growing, & being transformed into Yahushua’s image ?
We haven’t been taught what this looks like, & so it can be a real struggle.
We all have cultural influences, societal influences, denominational influences, even spiritual influences (Babylon), that we need to let go of.
As a result of all these influences, each of us has personal preferences – unfortunately, there are no denominational organisations, or other religious groups in Scripture, that are called to be Yahweh’s people - there are only the 12 tribes of Israel !
A very important question is, “Who are we supposed to be according to Scripture” ?
Again, let us use another analogy to explain this. Below, I have copied one example of a Shopping Mall map, that may help us with this question.
Finding out who we are supposed to be according to Scripture, is a bit like trying to figure out where a particular store is in this Shopping Mall. We are attempting to work out, “where we are”, & “where we need to go” on our journey.
Let’s consider the, “You are HERE” idea !
For most of us, we have a problem. It is like we are standing in front of a large sporting store, but we think we are in front of a department store.
Our problem sometimes is that, we don’t have good, & accurate “You are Here’s” – so if this is so, when we are trying to get to where we want to go, we may be coming from a wrong place.
An example that we might think of, is that we are driving on an unfamiliar Highway 40, headed towards our destination, Los Angeles. We look at our map, believing that we are at Flagstaff, Arizona, but in fact, we are at Kingman, Arizona. We inadvertently, take a wrong turn, & end up heading towards Las Vegas, but we are totally unaware of it. Can you see why we need to know our starting point ?
Let’s review what we have noticed so far.
1: Yahweh serious disturbs our shalom (peace), to get our attention.
2: In an attempt to restore our shalom, we ask questions, we seek answers, & we knock on doors.
3: We realise that we are on a journey into Yahweh’s Truth.
4: We discover that we are not sure, where we are on this journey.
A: In questioning a lot of things, we realise that we have to let go of some things, & we have to embrace other things.
B: We may come to really understand what James writes in James 4:8,
Jas 4:8 Draw near to Elohim and He shall draw near to you
C: We are reminded, that all this activity involves change, & that any kind of change is stressful.
NB - don’t fall for the lie, “the Ruach (Holy Spirit) will teach me”, without remembering that, He disturbed our shalom (peace) in the first place. If this was true, wouldn’t it mean that the Ruach would give us an instant download, with all the answers ?
D: We come to understand, that going through the process of asking, & seeking, & knocking, & journeying, allows us to find others who are also asking, seeking, knocking & journeying too.
E: We now realise, that we need a guide that we can trust, because we are going somewhere, that we have never been before.
F: In this process, we start to evaluate a lot of things that we may need to add to our walk. It is important to remember that the Heavenly Father is developing a “forever community”, in which He wants us to be able to live with each other, to support to each other, & to obey His kingdom rules.
As we are travelling on our journey, we may realise that this process is taking place in, what can be described as “the Battlefield of the Mind”.
We may come to understand that the place where we are right now, is where & when Yahweh chooses – it is not our choice.
He disturbed us in the place where we are now living, in the time period we are presently in, & in the culture we were raised in.
Once we realise what Yahweh has done, we can be confident that we can go from where Yahweh has called us, to where He wants us to be.
In doing this, we have to make a “conscious choice”, to choose Yah (short for Yahweh) as He is, over our own version of Him, which has been shaped by our personal preferences (our self-sovereignty & culture), and our interaction with “Babylon”.
Doesn’t Rev 18:1-5 refers to the system that keeps us away from Yahweh as“Babylon”, the mindset that takes us away from obedience & submission to our Creator.
The Babylonian system will cause us to justify our wrong choices, or excuse our disobedience.
Doesn’t Rom 12:1-2 tell us, “…do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”.
If we renew our minds, won’t we be able to do Yahweh’s will, better ?
In Phil 2:1-8 “, we are told, “…let this mind be in you which was also in Messiah Yahushua...”. If we do this, aren’t we desiring to be conformed to Messiah’s image, & not the other way around ?
Aren’t our preferences, our likes & dis-likes, essentially on the wrong side of the “Battlefield of our Minds” ?
Don’t we need to ask ourselves, “Are we willing to lay down our sovereignty, for His sovereignty ?”.
Yahweh doesn’t want us to just exist, He wants us to really live !
Let’s examine a previous statement about being on a journey into Yahweh’s Truth, by asking, what then, is Yahweh’s TRUTH ?
In John 8:31-32, we are told, “…If you stay in My Word, you are truly My disciples…”.
Yahushua made them disciples, so that they could then "disciple", someone else. Isn’t the role of a disciple (the one who has been discipled), to help turn others into Yahushua’s image – to come into a relationship with the Truth !
Verse 32 reads “…and you shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.”
So what specifically, is TRUTH ?
Interestingly, there is a “cycle of Scriptural verses” that explain what, & who TRUTH is.
John 14:6 tells us that Yahushua is TRUTH
Psa 119:142 explains that The Torah (law) is TRUTH
Psa 119:160 explains further that The Word is TRUTH, and
John 1:14 tells us that The Word put on flesh,
All this shows us that, Yahushua in the flesh, is the walking, talking, living Torah (Truth) !
So, how do we find Yahweh’s TRUTH ?
1 John 2:4 explains “The one who says “I know Him”, and does not guard His commandments, is a liar, and the TRUTH is not in him”.
If we are to “know Him” (Messiah Yahushua), shouldn’t we, as 1 John 2:6 tells us, “WALK as He WALKED” ?
Shouldn’t we live our lives, by doing what He, & the first century believers did ?
So what did Messiah Yahushua believe, & do ?
In order to find the answers to these questions, shouldn’t we search the Renewed Covenant Scriptures (NT), rather than simply rely on, & accept, what we have been taught in the Church ?
Did our denomination teach us how to really study Yahweh’s Word, (as was shown in the six lessons on how to study Scripture), or did they teach us to come to their pastors, ministers or priests, their experts, for the answers to our questions ? Wasn’t this one of the reasons we stopped going to Church ?
Isn’t it true, that if we haven’t studied Yahweh’s Word for ourselves (in the original languages), then we have NO opinion ! This statement is saying that if we have not studied His Word, then we can’t have an opinion about that Word, because we really don’t know what it actually says. All we really know, is someone else’s opinion - in other words, our opinion is based on “hearsay” !
Very Important Question – am I willing to accept the opinions of others, for my eternal salvation, & walk of faith ?
Based on several verses in the Gospel of John, we know that Yahushua did the will of His heavenly Father (John 6:39-40). We also know that Yahushua & His Father are one (John 10:30). John 15:8-10, tells us that the Father loves Yahushua, & that Yahushua kept His Father's commandments.
Joh 6:39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
Joh 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 10:30 I and my Father are one.
Joh 10:38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.
Joh 15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
Joh 15:9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
Joh 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
Clearly, from Matt 22:37-40, Yahushua knew & taught the first & great commandment, "love Yahweh your Elohim, with all your heart, soul, & mind", as well as the second commandment, "love your neighbour as yourself", explaining in verse 40 that, on these two commandments hang all the Torah (law) & the Prophets.
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
We, at Followers of the Messiah, believe what Messiah Yahushua believed, & do, as much as we can, what He did !
Final REVIEW
1: We stopped going to Church, & listed some of the reasons why
2: We did some asking, seeking & knocking, to try to restore our shalom (peace)
3: We came to understand that, there was a battle going on in our minds
4: We realised that we needed a guide – we at Followers of the Messiah can be that guide, until you learn more, and/or, until you find your own guide
5: We hope you now realise that your new journey is one, to find Yahweh’s TRUTH
There is much, much more to learn, & we invite you to explore other presentations, & resources that we have prepared on our website.
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We hope this presentation has encouraged you. To learn how to study Yahweh’s Word in the original languages, again, please check out , the six lessons on, How to Study Yahweh’s Word.