No young Christian and no old Christian can have real success in the Christian life without the fellowship of other believers. The church is a divine institution, built by Jesus Christ Himself.
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Is It a Must, or Can We Go It Alone?
HEALTHY CHURCHES: The Carnal Church
A Message to the Church in Pergamum. The city of Pergamum was the capital city of Asia Minor. It was renowned for its political power, its intellectual achievement and its pagan worship. It was a wealthy city given over to luxury and fashion. There are two special features that caused Pergamum to stand out in its time.
HEALTHY CHURCHES: A Fragrant Church
The city of Smyrna was located approximately thirty-five miles north of Ephesus. It was a prosperous city with a population of over one hundred thousand in John’s day (c. A.D. 95). That location had been inhabited for over three thousand years, and no one knows for sure who founded Smyrna or exactly when it was established.
Diagnosing the Health of the Church (Ephesus 2:1-7)
It is clear from this letter to the church in Ephesus that Christians can lose their first love. They can become busy in the Lord's workout of duty rather than love. The challenge is to be filled with fervent, emotional, extravagant love for Jesus. The heart can grow cold to God. Christian zeal for the Lord can diminish. Every Christian church needs to conduct a spiritual audit to ascertain if it needs to remember, repent, repeat the first works, and return to first love.
Origins and Development of the Church Health Movement
Where has the “church health” movement come from and where is it going to? Influential writers on this subject, such as Gene Getz, John McArthur, Mark Dever and others all seem to have different understandings of what, exactly, constitutes a healthy church.