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Archive for the ‘Church’ Category

The church is the family of God.  It is an institution that lays a hand on the heart of the people with the greatest force.  Each of us wants to be part of a family, to have people that care about us and care how we are doing, people who will help us willingly and people who do love us, people who believe in the same thing we believe in.

When visiting, regularly attending, or joining a church, it is important to know and be aware of that particular church’s beliefs.  One of the biggest ways the Baptist denomination differs from others is their view of baptism.  The baptist church believes the Bible is the inerrant word of God.  How they differ from other denominations is how they interpret the New Testament teachings on the sacrament of baptism.  The baptist church teaches that Jesus ordained immersion as the means of baptism for the New Testament Church.

Baptists are the third largest Protestant group in the world today.  Their history can be traced back to the early days of the Protestant Reformation.  Baptists were originally nicknamed “Anabaptists” which means re-baptizer because the baptism of mature church members rather than children is one of the original defining marks of this denomination.  When they first appeared in the United States, this was a particularly radical position they took.

The Baptist denomination is the largest Free Church denomination in the world with 45 million members across the globe.  More than three-fourths of all Baptists live in America; approximately 220,000 live in Britain; around 850,000 live in South American; and 230,000 in Central America.  In the former USSR, Baptists comprise the largest protestant denomination.

A  Baptist movement developed in the 16^th century and was split into two groups.  The first one, which is the General Baptists, believed that the atonement of Jesus was general for all believers.  The other group, called Particular Baptists believed that the atonement of Jesus applied only to a group of select believers chosen by God.  The former was influenced by Arminianism and was the largest influence on Baptists in the north while the latter was influenced by strict Calvinism and would be the strongest influence on Baptists in the south.

Baptists’ denomination follows congregational church governance in which each individual congregation is governed autonomously or free from the direct control of any other body.  This is the reason why there exist several denominations such as independent fundamental baptist, southern baptist, etc. but they are all still under one general denomination – the Baptist.

The church is our spiritual family, the house of God.  If we live in it long enough and are faithful in it, it becomes as close to us as our physical family.  You can find a true church family with baptist church Lexington.

Today, it is uncommon to see other people laugh at other’s misfortunes, thinking it’s funny, or laugh off when some crime happens in front of them while not doing anything to help resolve it – believe me, I’ve seen it happen. While loving the good doesn’t necessarily mean hating the bad, for the Bible, it says that if you fear God, you MUST hate evil – yes, not to laugh at it, or to do nothing about it, but if you believe you are a man of the Lord, then do something about it; hate evil. This is one of the teachings that I find very useful from the charismatic churches in Lexington KY– hate evil.

It says at the book of Proverbs chapter eight, verse thirteen that “To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech”. If you truly love and fear God, you must agree with him entirely – this means hate what he hates and love what he loves. If you’re not sure what these things are, grab the Bible and read it – it lists tons of things God loves and the things he despises – which is a good start to walk a path that follows God.

There is much more to the Bible that discusses this fact – I’ve learned from the charismatic churches in Lexington KY of a set of verses that basically lists the things that God hates and what we should also hate and this is written in the book of Proverbs chapter six, verses sixteen to nineteen: “There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers”.

This tells us that God hates people who have proud eyes, liars, murderers, people who have evil intentions, people who are quick to commit sins, false witnesses who spurt lies and people who bring strife among others. As followers of God, it should only be natural that we ourselves apply the principles of detesting these things among the rest of evil.

Of course, there is much more to learn about this proverb as there is always a deeper meaning to such proverbs. If you’re unsure, you can always join the ministry at the charismatic churches in Lexington KY to gain a deeper understanding about the teachings of God and the Bible.