Five Reasons You May Not Like This Church

My family and I are members of Sullins Branch Baptist Church in Spruce Pine, NC located in the mountains of western North Carolina. Our pastor loves God with all his strength, but he also loves the souls of all people, young and old, and each time he steps into the pulpit, he preaches the truth of God's word and presents the gospel. We welcome each and every visitor to our services. Our congregation lovingly accepts each visitor just as they are, but we hope that they leave different from when they came. The preaching of God's word will effect all people; Christians draw closer to the Lord, Christians backslide against the clear instruction of His commands, sinners reject the gospel because they want to continue in their sin, and sinners being drawn by the Holy Spirit and accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal saviour. Some people come back to worship with us; but, unfortunately, some people never return to our services. I saw this outline in the Flaming Torch newspaper (Volume 45 Number 1) written by Pastor Charles Perkins, and I immediately thought of our church. Could the same be said for the church which you attend??? Get out your Bible and study to see if your church fits this mold.

FIVE REASONS YOU MAY NOT LIKE THIS CHURCH

1. You may be lost!
a. Lost people hate light: John 3:18-20 "men loved darkness rather than light"
b. Lost people hate the truth: John 18:37-38 "What is truth?" John 17:17 "thy word is truth"
c. Lost people hate preaching: I Cor. 1:18-21 "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness;"
2. You may be carnal!
I Cor. 3:1-6 "For ye are yet carnal"
Rom. 8:6-7 "For to be carnally minded is death"
3. You may be worldly!
Matt. 13:22 "he becometh unfruitful"
I John 2:15 "Love not the world"
II Cor. 4:35 "the god of this world has blinded"
Hebr. 11:24-27 "refused... choosing....esteeming....by faith he forsook Egypt"
4. You may be ignorant!
(Many people today are going to churches that never teach them Bible doctrine, and many never take the time to read and study God's word for themselves.)
a. About salvation - Rom. 10:1-4 "for they being ignorant of God's righteousness,"
b. About the Rock - I Cor. 10:1-4 "and that Rock was Christ."
c. About spiritual gifts - I Cor 12 "I would not have you ignorant"
d. About eternal security - John 10:27-30 "no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." I Pet. 1:5 "kept by the power of God"
e. About the second coming of Christ - I Thes. 4:13-18 "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,"
5. You may not like the stand we take!
a. About the Bible - Pslm. 12:6-7 "the words of the LORD are pure words:"
b. About the old paths - Jer. 6:16 "ask for the old paths,"
c. About music - Eph. 5:18-19 "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,"
d. About soul winning - Pslm. 126:5-6 "he that goeth forth and weepeth" Matt. 9:37-38 "that he will send forth labourers into his harvest."
e. About faithfulness - Prov. 20:6 "but a faithful man who can find?" I Cor. 4:2 "that a man be found faithful." Rev. 2:10-11 "faithful unto death,"