 We all know that as believers, we should be planted in a local body of like-minded fellow Christians. But so many believers struggle to find that place to call their church home, whether from past hurts or maybe theological differences. There is a struggle sometimes. We have to acknowledge that when it comes to trying to find your church home. So what I want to do is I want to take a very balanced, very biblical, very grace-filled look at this particular topic. We're going to go through the scripture and we're going to identify both green flags and red flags. What do I mean by that? I mean that we're going to look at things that mark godly biblical churches that you should attend. And then we're also going to take a look at the scripture to help identify churches that maybe are not so healthy. So this stream will equip you to know what church to call home, but it will also help you know when it might be time to leave one. And I say that very carefully because as I said, this is going to be balanced. So as I go through these points, not only am I going to be talking about some of the toxic traits that certain churches pick up, but I also want to talk about how some believers leave really good churches and it's just because of their perception of the church that causes them to leave in the first place. Now, so many people criticize the body of Christ. It's kind of in style. You know, the world makes fun of the church. Media makes fun of Christians. Movies make fun of Christians. Music makes fun of Christians. And if you're not careful, you begin to unite your voice with the world's voice. People love to bash the church. But we have to recognize that the church is the bride of Christ. So I want you to side with Christ. I want you to publicly declare that you love the church. Write it in the comment section right now, whether you're watching live or on the replay. I love the church. That's not saying that the church is perfect. That's not to say that the church hasn't made its mistakes. That's not to say that there are some so-called churches misrepresenting what it means to be a church. That simply means that you love the true church, the true body, the collective of genuine believers who all love Jesus. Write it in the comment section. Don't be ashamed. Don't echo the voice of worldly culture. Instead, resist that. Come against that. Come against that lie right now publicly and write those simple words. I love the church. Before I get into green flags and then red flags, I want to establish from Scripture, first of all, the need that we need to go to church. Now notice how I worded that, and I worded that very carefully. We need to go to church. Now immediately, some people might say, well, I am the church, so it doesn't matter. I don't need to go anywhere. I'm going to show you the truth from Scripture, and I want you, if you can, to lower your defenses. Here what the Bible has to say, see it from a biblical perspective, and let's see if we can't find some correction for mindsets against the Word of God. Hebrews very clearly declares, and let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now, that the day of his return is drawing near. Now we'll come back to that in a moment, but that's a very clear instruction to us that we ought to gather, especially because his return is so near. Now let me show you something in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. I'm going to read verses 12-21. The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free, but we have all been baptized into one body by one spirit, and we all share the same spirit. Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says, I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand, that doesn't make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, I am not a part of the body because I am not an eye, would that make it any less a part of the body? Verse 17, if the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where He wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part. Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. Now that's a very important way that the Scripture has phrased that. Verse 21, the eye can never say to the hand, I don't need you. The head can't say to the feet, I don't need you. You've heard it said, I don't need to go to the church, I am the church. You've heard it said, I don't need to go and attend at a particular place with a group of people, I am the body of Christ. But this is to contradict the overall spirit of what's being communicated in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. For 1 Corinthians chapter 12 is very clearly telling us that it is our togetherness that makes us the body. Were you to remove the ear from the body or the eye from the body, the ear would no longer be the body. It would be a dismembered part. It would be just an ear, and the eye would be just the eye. We wouldn't say the ear is a body or that the eye is a body. Rather, it is again that togetherness that's being described as the body. So yes, you are the body of Christ in that sense, but we are truly the body of Christ when we come together. So it is not true to say, I don't need to go to church because I am the body or I don't need to go to church because I am the church. The Scripture very clearly commands us to assemble in person with one another, and it also makes it very clear that all of us together make up the body of Christ. So other complaints might include, well, I don't want to be a part of organized religion. And to that I always ask, do you want to be a part of unorganized religion? Name me one thing that God ever did that was disorganized. Everything God does has a system, a solar system. The earth is an ecosystem. Your body consists of many systems. If you're against systems, you're against God's way of doing things. If you're against organization, you're against the very nature of God. For God is a God of order, and he has implemented, yes, the system of the church in the earth. This is something that I understand why some people resist this because they feel that it's not genuine if it's organized or it's not genuine if it's too much like a system. But the reality is that systems are how God works. And it's because of this misconception, it's because of this dislike of systems that many people dismiss what is truly God's New Testament design for the believer's life. So there's this popular disdain, right? Well, I want to go outside the four walls. I don't want to just be in the four walls. I want to go outside the four walls. And some people seem to be under the impression that if something is organized or within a church building or within an event-like setting, that for some reason that's just not genuine. For some reason we think that systems are just inauthentic. But a system can be authentic and organized at the same time. We may say things like, well, it's not true ministry. Yeah, you guys are all gathering. And this is spiritual pride. Watch this now. Some believers will say something like, and if this is you, check your heart. They'll say something like, well, they're all going to church and they're organized, but I'm busy being the body. I'm busy going outside the four walls of the church and doing the real work of the body of Christ. I'm doing the real work of ministry. I'm out there on the front lines. I'm out there doing it in a genuine way, making actual impact. And this is to forget that the local body of believers, that organized system of believers, has done more good for this world than any system, any organization, any individual of all time. In all time, I should say. The local body of believers, the church, the gathering of the saints worldwide, that network, God's system, of genuine followers of Christ and disciples. That system has done more good in this world than any one system or any one individual in all of history, period. This is, of course, besides Christ himself. And that is period. You look at the stats, you look at the data, you look at the impact, and that's just a fact. Again, I know it's in vogue right now to criticize the church. Oh, they're just a bunch of hypocrites. It's something that people who don't want to turn from their sin using it as an excuse. And really, it's not that they left because of the hypocrites, because there's hypocrites everywhere. There are hypocrites in the sporting world. They still watch sports. There are hypocrites at their job. They still work at that job. There are hypocrites in every system, yet they participate in almost all the systems of the world. So it's not hypocrisy that turns people off and causes them to leave the church. It's the fact that they don't want their sin confronted. Jesus gave us the verdict in John chapter 3 when he said that light has come into this world and people reject the light simply because they love the darkness. So that is why people leave the church. That is why people don't like the system. And it has nothing to do with the genuine body of Christ. Am I saying the church is perfect? By no means. What I am saying is that often the church is used as a scapegoat simply because people don't want to confront certain issues in their own life. Now, this does not mean that the only way to attend church is in a building with the cross on top of it. That's not what I'm saying at all. So don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm just trying to bring balance to what is a much criticized form of gathering. Now, there are many ways to gather. I know of churches that are on storefronts. I know of believers that meet in houses. I know of believers that meet in dorm rooms. They meet in coffee shops. They meet in parks. So I'm not talking about the building. What I am talking about is an assembled group of believers who have a systematic approach to kingdom expansion. So it doesn't matter the location. So long as there is a group of believers who are gathering together with one mind, one heart, one focus, one common goal and a systemized, organized way of expanding the kingdom and doing the work of ministry. That is God's way of doing it. Again, parks, schools, coffee shops, dorms, church buildings, houses, you name it, it all works. But let's not be critical of those who do attend in a church building because, again, it comes down to the basics, the principles, the fact that we are gathering, organized, systemized, all with one common goal. Let me show you this very key portion of Scripture. Write this down if you're taking notes. This is a very key portion of Scripture and we're going to use it to glean several truths as we progress through this message. Acts chapter 2, verses 42 through 47 say this, all the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship and to sharing in meals, including the Lord's Supper and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders and all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the temple each day. Notice this is so interesting because people often talk about how the early church met in houses. They did, but look what it also says. Verse 46, they worshiped together at the temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper. So it was for the sake of communion that they met in homes, but as far as their worship gatherings, they were meeting in an organized place. They were meeting in a set building and so they had this set building primarily to accommodate the coming together of the majority within their group and shared their meals with great joy and generosity, all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. So we see that when there is this fruitful coming together that this actually helps with the work of evangelism. So anyone who's ever criticized the church to say that it's not doing enough or that we need to move outside the four walls, look I understand, I get that. I'm a traveling evangelist. We rent conference centers and rent venues and we go to the people and we go to the places where they need to hear the gospel. I'm here with you. I see the need for evangelistic efforts and projects and going outside the four walls of the church, but that doesn't mean we should develop this spiritual pride and this disdain for what is otherwise a beautiful system that God has put into place. That this local body of believers was meeting together was a reason that many were saved. I say this as an evangelist. I say this as I said as a traveling preacher. There is no greater soul winning work around today than the local body of believers. More people are saved. More people come to Christ at the local church than through any other means. Put together all the mass crusades of the world's most famous evangelists. Put together the media reach of all of the most popular Christian YouTubers and Christian broadcasters and podcasters and still that reach pales in comparison to the collective network, the reach of the system that is God's local body of believers. And I say this again as an online minister, traveling evangelist. I don't have a church, but I still acknowledge the fact that the local body of believers, that gathering, that togetherness is the primary way that numbers are added. Read the book of Acts. As they met, people were added to them and it was that togetherness, that community, that working together as a body that added people to their numbers and also multiplied their numbers. And again, this is why we shouldn't criticize God's systematic way of doing it. There are many different forms of evangelism, but let's not forget that we must reverence the body of Christ, reverence God's system, accept it as a system and then also acknowledge that it is in fact the greatest soul winning work around in the world today. Now a few things we can glean from that portion of the book of Acts. Notice that they all financially contributed to a common cause. Now this isn't to say that every single one of us have to sell all our possessions. The scripture doesn't prescribe that. It describes that here historically. But as I often say, so I want to be consistent here, you know, I'll explain it like this. When you study the scripture, you'll notice that some scriptures are descriptive, others are prescriptive. What does that mean? Some scriptures are just describing what happened, like a historical account, like a narrative from the book of Acts, and other scriptures are prescribing, like an epistle, Paul writing instructions to the church for everyday living and church culture and church discipline and so forth. Now, it's commonly understood that just because something is descriptive doesn't necessarily make it prescriptive. So just because something is described in the Bible doesn't mean that that is prescribed for all of us today. This is one example. But as I like to say, that doesn't mean that you can't glean from the basic principle the spiritual truth that caused them to do what's being described in the first place. So then we see that they sold all their possessions. That's what's being described. So what is the takeaway principle that has universal application for all believers? The takeaway principle is that there must be a financial sacrifice where all of us put together our resources for the common efforts of the local church. They also heard sermons. That's another point that we take away. So the word of God was being preached. That's a very key component of gathering as believers. The scripture also says they fellowshiped. And this is another thing I'll cover. I'm going to cover all these in details in a moment. Meals? We are very good at doing that, aren't we? We're the Sunday afternoon crowd, right? After church we pack out restaurants and hopefully we're tipping like Christians. I always tell my friends, tip like a Christian which means generously. And be nice to your servers. That's just the side note here. They shared their meals. They took communion. This was something that was practiced commonly and should be practiced commonly today. They prayed together. So there are a lot of takeaways. Now, what is the purpose of church attendance? This is a very important question. And the reason I'm asking this question is because in answering the question what is the purpose of church attendance? We actually find key indicators of a good church. So those green flags and red flags I told you about. We find those green flags and those red flags in the key components of the purpose of church gathering. So as we look at what the scripture says about why we gather and what we should be doing when we're gathering, at the same time we see green flags. In other words, if a church is doing these things that makes it a good healthy church home. So you got to know the purpose of church gathering. You got to know the purpose of coming together with the saints before you can know what is a good place to call your church home. So I'm looking for green flags as we go through this. But I'm also going to point out some common mistakes that believers make. And this is important. Please don't take this as an attack if I'm describing you. I'm not here to attack you. I'm here to help you work through some mindsets that maybe are in contradiction to the word of God. Look, I've had mindsets before and I probably still have mindsets that are anti-biblical and I just haven't seen it yet and God will reveal it to me over time. All of us have things that we can correct, myself included. All of us have ways in which we can be more like Jesus, myself included. And so as I point out these green flags, as I show you key indicators that make a church a good church, I also want to show you on the other side of the coin common mistakes that church attendees make in either being too critical or perceiving it in a negative way, mistakes that believers make when attending church that cause them to leave a church when they shouldn't have. And I'm going to cover that right now. So number one, a key indicator that a church is something that you should call your home and this is also something that describes the purpose of the church is hearing the word. So green flag number one, the word is taught. Now, we just read in Acts and that portion I gave you, I told you to write it down, it was key. We just read in Acts that it was the teaching of the word that was something that was commonly practiced. The teaching of the word, the sharing of the word, I understand that every believer ought to be consuming the word for themselves. I understand that every believer ought to be studying the word. But there's something about gathering together as believers and hearing the word from someone who has been appointed as a deacon or pastor or a teacher and so forth who is communicating the scripture to us from their understanding that's actually better than ours and this is why God has given us the teachers. So the Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 13, until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. So that's public encouragement, public edification, public correction, public teaching. Ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 to 13 says this, now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature in the Lord measuring up to the full standard of Christ. So then we see that God gave as gifts to the church, evangelists, apostles, prophets and this is key right here, pastors and teachers. Now, this work of ministry is to share the Word of God and explain the Word of God and to correct from the Word of God and to help believers come into a greater understanding of the Word of God. God would never give us something that we didn't need to use. Now, often people will quote, for example, 1 John 2.27 and other verses that are misunderstood in the same way, like 1 John 2.27 that you need no man to teach you for you've been given an anointing. Well, that right there if I can simplify it, it's not the full explanation, but if I can simplify what that verse is talking about, it's talking about that inner knowing of the true way of salvation. It's not talking about the understanding of the scriptures and every part of the scriptures. So God wouldn't say here are teachers, but you don't need teachers. God wouldn't say here are pastors, but you don't need pastors. So the Word of God doesn't contradict itself. So 1 John 2.27 couldn't possibly mean that you don't need anyone to teach you the scriptures, that you don't need anyone to help you come to a better understanding. It's what I gave in a succinct way. It's just that inner witness that inner knowing, that inner understanding of the simple and true message of salvation. You don't need anybody to re-teach you that or to change what was taught concerning the foundational truths of the gospel. But you do need someone to help you understand the Word. You do need someone to help you come to greater levels of understanding. Again, God would not say here are teachers, but you don't need them. So God has appointed some as teachers for the church. James 3.1 says, Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church. This verse scares me. For we who teach will be judged more strictly. My daughter, Aria, who I love, walked into my office today while I was putting together the final notes for this message. And she wanted to sit on my lap and see what I was doing. So I put her on my lap and I was showing her. She didn't really know what she was looking at, but I'll teach her young. I began to explain to her, I said, Daddy's putting together a lesson outline. And I showed her. I said, these are scriptures from the Bible. She knows what the Bible is. I said, these are scriptures from the Bible. I said, I have to study because I have to be very careful because if I don't teach this correctly, it won't help the people. I understand that when I come to you on these live streams, I'm teaching the Word of God. That's why I give myself to study. That's why I give myself to pouring over scriptures and making sure I'm accurately communicating the truths therein. Because if I'm not accurately communicating the truths therein, it could cause spiritual damage in your life. This is why also I encourage you don't just take what I say at face value. Go and study the scripture for yourself. Compare what I say to scripture. You are encouraged to do that. And this is why those who want to be teachers must keep in mind this great reverence for the Word of God because we will be judged with stricter judgment. Because this is why, by the way this is why I don't just put together teachings to try to get clicks and views. I know that especially on social media it's tempting to put together something that no one has ever heard before. Or explain it from an angle that no one has ever explained it from. But some people are so concerned about finding things that no one else has ever seen that they're not considering that maybe no one else has ever seen it because it's not there and you're forcing it on the scripture for the sake of clicks and views. And I have to keep myself in check because sometimes the enemy will try to tempt you and say well, if you want the ministry to grow, if you want to see God save more people you should get more views and if you want more views you got to go more sensational. This is why I got to be very careful to though we try to make it interesting I never sacrifice truth for clicks or truth for trends. I stay on point at least to the best of my ability and it's why I encourage you those of you who teach and preach not just online but in pulpits do the same. But this is something that we need. All of us need this. We all need teachers preachers and pastors in our lives. Second Timothy 2 15 says work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth. So in that explanation you must be accurate and we gather as the church to hear teachers and preachers communicate the truth of God word. So very clearly in second Timothy 2 15 we see that the Bible says who correctly explains the word of truth which indicates to us that there is a correct way to communicate the truth. And if there is a correct way to communicate the truth then there is a incorrect way to communicate the truth. Now on the flip side of this okay I told you this is going to be balanced. Yes we must make sure that we're attending a church that's teaching and preaching sound doctrine. Now on the flip side I need to address this because some people are just so nitpicky they're never going to find a church that they like. Look I'll pull it up right now. I wasn't planning on it. This is something I've prepared. I think the teaching will be released in a couple weeks. I talked about what Christians believe. Things like this the incarnation of Christ the deity of Christ the bodily resurrection of Christ salvation only exclusively through Christ. Salvation by grace through faith not works the divine inspiration perfection authority and sufficiency of scripture. One God three persons a literal heaven and a literal hell the return of Christ. These are doctrines that are fundamental in nature okay so there is a difference between a peripheral doctrine like your peripheral vision on the side a peripheral doctrine and a primary doctrine there must be unity in the primary doctrines has to be otherwise it's not a good church to attend. So if you're going to a church that doesn't teach a literal heaven and a hell I'll tell you right off the bat we can just we can we can we can very clearly draw some lines right now. If you're going to a church that doesn't teach a literal heaven and a hell leave that church. If you're going to a church that doesn't believe in the return of Christ leave that church I can go on and on. I mean you get what I'm saying. These are essentials. If you're going to church that doesn't believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ leave that church if you're going to a church that believes there are other ways to salvation other than through Christ leave that church. If you're going to a church that doesn't believe that the word of God is divinely inspired inerrant. It is the highest authority and it's sufficient leave that church. All of those fundamentals I just listed are there's no room for compromise on those. So right off the bat there we see that. But then on the other hand we have people who want to nitpick on on the peripheral doctrines right so they're hearing a sermon and maybe they're going to a church they line up on all the primaries right incarnation of Christ deity of Christ bodily resurrection so forth and so on they have the fundamentals in place and people will cross their arms and listen to the pastor and they'll have their notepad out like the correctly because it gives them like a sense of control and authority. Some people go on power trips and they do this to feel like they're in control they write they're not writing notes to learn they're writing notes like I'm correcting this and it gives them that sense of control and they're satisfied in that. But what people will do is they'll listen to a preacher and they'll say huh well I love this church. My family grew up here. We grew here and we fellowshiped here and we agree on the fundamentals and we've been reaching community together we've been reaching souls together we've gone on mission strip together but the pastor just said that he believes that the rapture takes place after the tribulation I believe that the rapture takes place before. I cannot compromise this we must leave. That to be honest with you is a form of spiritual pride. Now I understand that the scripture says can two walk together less they agree and all things in context it's not saying that every little thing must be agreed upon before you can unite with someone that's just not the case rather we as believers must have the maturity to unite in the fundamentals to unite in the primary and give grace to one another in the peripherals I know people who've left wonderful churches because of just some minute detail in some obscured doctrine or they believe that if you give financially you'll be blessed financially is that really a reason to leave a church see and then we put labels on things you know why we put labels on people we put labels on people because when we label someone it makes it easier to villainize them or vilify them when we put labels on people we vilify them and it's easier to do that so like when somebody believes like I believe you can't buy a miracle healing you can't buy deliverance but I do believe that if you exercise the fundamental principles of stewardship and apply the wisdom that the scripture gives us that that will result in financial fruitfulness that God will bring increase to your material resources that you might be a blessing to others in response to how you stewarded the resources he gave you is that a primary doctrine no that's peripheral but what do we do when we hear things we don't like you know what people do with that one they say oh that's the prosperity gospel oh that's word of faith and they put these labels on it and most people don't even know what those mean and so they put those labels on it when no one's changed the gospel no one's changed the fundamentals we all agree there but they'll pick a peripheral doctrine and then accuse you of preaching your peripheral doctrine like it's a primary doctrine when you never did and to that I say is money really worth dividing over and that's how important money is to those people and that's not the only thing well they believe in the gifts of healing there's a bigger one I'll get to this in a moment and I'll talk about how some of these peripherals may be a reason to try to find someone you can work with more carefully but this doesn't mean that they're evil or that they're not brothers and sisters in Christ like as I've said before I have cessationists who are very close friends of mine and we fallage if we want another and we watch each other's children and we're very close and we just agree to disagree on some of these issues and that's okay but be careful that you're not just nitpicking look at the fundamentals find agreement in the peripherals that are important to you yes so that you can work together in ministry someone in our ministry couldn't work with us if they didn't believe in the gifts of healing because it would violate their conscience but that doesn't mean that we look at each other as evil they just say I can't really work with that ministry because I don't believe in that particular doctrine and that's a little bit more of an important one because it has to do with life application and actually carry out ministry but again we got to get past this nitpicking you know I didn't like what that pastor said that one time or I didn't like how they said it we've literally had people leave our ministry because they didn't have their front row seat saved I kid you not our office gets calls and people leave our ministry for some of the silliest thing and this is not to bash anyone who's done it and I'm not thinking of anyone in particular so don't feel like I'm attacking anyone I know but I know for a fact because I've heard it from our office calls regularly you know I went to the event and I wanted a front row seat and I couldn't get one and now I see what really this ministry is about and I'm thinking okay well if that's how you want to take it that's that there's nothing I can do about that don't be that person don't be that nitpicky person who's just sitting there and you know what that really is that's ego and that's undelt with hurt look for reasons to unite not to divide that's the spiritually mature way of handling it so number one the word of God is taught that's a green flag number two corporate worship or worshipping together Colossians 3 16 says let the message about Christ and all its richness fill your lives teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives sing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts Ephesians 5 19 says addressing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart now on a side note what's the difference between Psalms hymns and spiritual songs simply put the Psalms that's referring to what you see in scripture those are divinely inspired writings divinely inspired words of worship and praise unto God and then hymns that's worship and praise unto God but not divinely inspired and then we have spiritual songs these are expressions of faith spiritual truths inspiration inspiring words of encouragement through song so you've heard people criticize worship songs well it doesn't really direct God it doesn't I should say it isn't really addressed to God directly so I'm not going to sing and I want real worship okay well you're talking about hymns songs address to God praising God worshipping God talking about God but then there are spiritual songs and spiritual songs can be singing about our faith spiritual songs can be about how we're going to overcome something about how we're going to make it through the struggle about how God isn't going to let us down and those spiritual songs receive so much criticism from people who don't understand that's actually one of the things we've been encouraged to sing about truths that are just spiritual encouragements to one another things that are inspirational those are spiritual songs I remember there's this story of a pastor who was being greeted by his congregation after the service was over and this woman comes up to the pastor she's kind of huffing and she says to the pastor you know pastor I didn't really enjoy worship today and she complained about various things it was too long I didn't like the style I didn't like the songs and the pastor just smiled at her and very politely said that's okay we weren't worshiping you and I love that story because it illustrates a very important point in that when we really put into perspective what worship is that corporate worship we begin to stop being so negative so critical every little thing doesn't have to be picked out like people talk about styles right for example I have my preferences on styles I love what some would call the classics there's just something about them I think for me it has a lot to do with the fact that when I was say 11 and at the age of 11 and then from like ages 12, 13, 14, 15 those were the songs that I used in my prayer life now of course I use some modern ones I use some instrumentals I mostly listen to Stephen Mock to Zuma's stuff when I'm worshiping but you know back when I first started to know the Lord it was some of those classics I stand in awe of you turn your eyes upon Jesus oh the glory Jesus your presence makes me whole glory to the Lamb which some of you have heard me sing I'm not much of a singer I'll admit that but I do worship I do enjoy worshiping and so those are the songs I prefer but you know I can still worship the Lord to some of the modern songs and I'm not so you know grumpy and so critical that I'm like well you know I really do believe that there's nothing like the classics but that's my personal preference that's my personal preference and I have to admit that but that doesn't mean I can't worship to some of the newer things and there are some new songs which we take I like to just pick songs that I call presence songs right doesn't matter if they're new or classic or kind of classic doesn't matter what era who wrote it all I look for is does that song carry that presence on it and it doesn't matter to me and even if it doesn't that doesn't mean I'm not going to still have the heart of worship while so the length of worship doesn't matter either now here I'm talking about a green flag the green flag being that a good church is going to have worship they're going to sing songs in praise to God on the flip side remember I told you I'm going to deal with some mindsets that church attendees deal with I'm going to deal with some issues that church attendees have and some mistakes that they make when it comes to worship here's the mistake that church attendees make they confuse their personal preference for spiritual standards me say that again they confuse their personal preference for spiritual standards I've heard people say you know the worship wasn't long enough I don't think I think we should just let the Holy Spirit move I'm thinking he doesn't move to the word doesn't move to the altar call doesn't move to prayer doesn't move through even the announcing of church fellowship think about what's being implied there that it's only in the music that the Holy Spirit can move that's just not true now I understand I'm right there with you I love a good length in a worship service but again we mustn't spiritualize our preferences if the worship was 30 minutes it was 30 minutes did God enjoy it did he receive it as an offering I'd rather sing for 20 minutes and be sincere and God receive it then to go for 45 minutes to an hour and think that God will receive it simply because of its length so am I speaking against long worship services no am I speaking against short worship services no I'm simply saying that the length doesn't even matter time doesn't even apply to God you think he's upset you know you could have gone 10 minutes longer I'm very upset with you no as long as there was a true communication of worship as long as it was truly heartfelt now that may be your preference you may prefer the longer services that's fine nothing evil or wrong with that but don't be so religious that you're criticizing churches that don't do that I know of some people who left churches for 15 minutes difference in the worship service they think that a 30 minute set of worship that's that's stopping the Holy Spirit but a 45 minute that right there now he's moving thinking he needed that he really needed that extra 15 minutes well then why not an hour I could say you only go for 45 how dare you you should go for three hours because then you can really move you see where this just kind of gets out of hand so again I'm not saying that long services are bad or short services are bad or either one is any is God's preference I'm simply saying that we can't confuse our personal preference for spiritual standards and this is a mistake many people make they'll go to a church was too loud I didn't like the style I didn't like the songs wasn't long enough wasn't short enough wasn't cool enough wasn't old enough wasn't classic enough wasn't modern enough and because of this they miss out on what would otherwise be a wonderful community of believers where they could grow and be planted and their families can also grow and be planted all because of what a preference that's consumer mentality well you know that church down the street has a slide for the kids we're going to go there or that church right there has now that's the style I like we're going to go there that church has better seating or that church has a better air conditioner and that's consumerism we're thinking like consumers as if we're picking up a product rather than choosing a community of believers so I'm just saying don't be superficial about these things you could be missing out on a great church simply because you don't like the style of the worship be very careful of that so green flags there's the teaching of the word teaching and preaching of the word there is corporate worship number three praying together corporate prayer acts 242 again is our reference for that in acts 242 we see that the believers were praying together seeking God as one uniting over a point of prayer for example in the book of acts like when the church gathered together to pray for the apostle Paul this was something that they did in togetherness they united their prayers and joined their prayers for one common goal now all throughout the book of acts you will see these corporate prayer meetings them gathering for prayer for various different reasons but this is something that the church should practice now that's a green flag they pray together now let me flip it again some mistakes that the church attendee makes they go into a church and if it's not done a certain way they're going to leave and miss out on what otherwise would have been a wonderful community of believers like for example there's this mindset that says the more I suffer the more pleased God is with me he's pleased with us in our suffering yes and scripture does speak to that point but this isn't to say that you should put yourself through torture mental and emotional or even make yourself exhausted to please God that doesn't please him that is a legalistic mindset that's a religious mindset that says the more miserable I am the more pleased God is no that's not what the Bible teaches yes we sacrifice yes we bear our cross yes we deny our own will but nothing in the scripture says that we should make ourselves miserable in order to please God we accept the circumstances that bring trials sometimes of course and in those trials we can glorify God by praising him despite what's going on around us but never should we put those things in ourselves simply to make ourselves suffer like some people look at fasting in that way they think it's effective because they're starving and miserable it's not why it's effective I have teachings on fasting in this channel but in the same way some people do this with prayer I'm going to get up at 4am and if you do that wonderful again please don't hear what I'm not saying if you wake up at 4 to pray God bless you if you wake up at 5 or 6 to pray some of us prefer to pray when we start our day some of us prefer to pray at night all of us should be praying all throughout the day of course I'm talking about that specified scheduled secluded prayer where you carve a section out of your day like in Matthew 6 6 and you lock yourself away some people do that in the morning some people do that at night Jesus prayed in the morning Jesus prayed in the afternoon Jesus prayed at night Jesus prayed all night and you get up at 5am at different times of the day so take your pick because you can't be locked in the prayer room 24-7 if you want to carry out your other responsibilities as a believer so you should have a prayer life but sometimes what happens is we get this mindset right well if you're not waking up at 5 you're not doing it right and this is how I used to think and people get these burdens on them like what about the people who work graveyard wait a minute who says that we have to obey some man-made schedule in order to please God and so some people and they'll say things like well if you really want God to move you'll get out of bed and you'll pray if you really were serious if you really want revival as if it all depends on my religious acts and not the power when I pray that's what prayer counts for not in the religious system of it not in acting like it's a vending machine well I got about five so God you have to do it times of prayer, lengths of prayer it all applies in the same way now as I said we all should have a portion of our day where we pray and just pray and we all should be praying all throughout the day I call this schedule prayer and spontaneous prayer you need both to have an effective prayer life but rather I'm saying here that some people are of the mindset like you know the church doesn't have 6am prayer Monday through Friday well okay what if you're a single mom and you work two jobs and you have a time when you go and you pray but because you didn't make that church a scheduled prayer you're not really a disciple think about how religious that is and that's not the way we should be looking at prayer at all again prayer is something that is inspired by the spirit it's something we ought to do in a scheduled way it's something that we should carve out time for and it's something we should do throughout all the days but as far as scheduling times and so forth let's not be nitpicky about that well I stopped going to that church because they weren't serious about God because they weren't waking up at three Monday through Friday and praying for two hours before work don't look at it that way you pray as the spirit leads you and you make sure you are praying but let's not get religious about it next we see another green flag is enjoying fellowship now this may not seem spiritual but this is so key again the reference being acts 242 I'll also show you Galatians 6 2 check this out Galatians 6 2 says share each other's burdens and in this way obey the law of Christ this is what it means to fellowship fellowship is more than hanging out and there's a part of that you should fellowship you should share meals with people like for instance I took my whole team out on the lake one day we got on the water we're all swimming in the lake and barbecuing and the whole thing right that's good you ought to do that you ought to get together fellowship you ought to get together go on hikes go out on the boat go meet at a restaurant just to hang just to fellowship hanging out is actually very spiritual when it's done with other believers so that component is important and a true church is going to cultivate this fellowship a true church is going to bring together people in this community and they're not only going to be meeting for church services there will be actual connections outside you know why because it's very easy to put on an act Sunday mornings 9 and 11 a.m. Wednesday night 7 p.m. or maybe Friday nights for Bible studies it's very easy to put on an act on Tuesday night or Thursday night classes or Monday night men's meeting or Monday night women's meetings it's very easy to put on an act for two hours a week but when you start to become involved in people's lives to fellowship now you're really sharing in each other's burdens now you're really getting to know one another now you really have someone who can cry with you who can rejoice with you who can have fun with you fun is spiritual I don't care what anyone tells you fun is spiritual because fun is part of fellowship but it's so much deeper than that first John 1 3 says we proclaim to you that we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us so it was by believing that they were brought into fellowship so there's the spiritual element only believers can have true fellowship with other believers that true spiritual connection and the Bible goes on to say in that same verse and our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ so fellowship among believers isn't just two believers hanging out do you realize that when you go together to hike when you go together to you know that restaurant that's open 24 7 after church and you all just share a meal when you go together on the lake when you go together on trips when you go into each other's homes and just play board games and laugh and drink coffee and have snacks or whatever it is that you do you're coming together as believers yes but the Holy Spirit dwells there too think about that that the Holy Spirit is a part of that fellowship knitting our hearts together building strong relationships within a community setting and this is why we must learn to develop those close relationships connectivity with one another now as I said I'm gonna show you green flags and I'm gonna show you where people make their mistakes some people leave churches inappropriately because they were upset because they felt left out of the element of fellowship now let me acknowledge this first because I don't want to I don't want to pretend like this doesn't happen yes there are some churches you will go to where they will reject you they don't want anything to do with you they're happy with their group they don't want you to be a part of it but let me just be real with you here and please please hear me out because I know some people their defenses are gonna go up please hear me out I love you I hope you know that I love you but let me tell you something nine times out of ten when someone comes to me and they say oh that church I don't go there anymore because nobody wanted a fellowship nobody wanted to connect they never invited me anywhere I didn't feel like I was a part of the group nine times out of ten this is just in my experience it's anecdotal nine times out of ten it's because the person who's complaining didn't really make an effort look showing up and then hovering around people as they talk is not making an effort making an effort is hey I'd like you to come over or hey let's fellowship sometime and don't don't be weird about it now let me just be real with you here I'm gonna help you out because I used to be in this category I was I feel like Paul the Apostle I was a Pharisee among Pharisees me I was a weirdo among weirdos okay everything I talked about was philosophical and deep or I wanted to just talk about ultra obscure passages of scripture that nobody really thought was even necessary for life application like the Nephilim I'd want to get into that or our aliens humans and you know I was just those are interesting conversations and I have friends who enjoy those but what I'm saying is instead of trying to get them to be your friends instead of trying to get them to connect with you and be there for you go and try to be their friend go and talk about what interests them don't try to dominate the conversation don't use conversation as fellowship as a time to show off how spiritual you think you are that's what some people do I'm not saying it's definitely you but some people do that they get into that fellowship and they just want to show off how spiritual they are they want everyone to go wow look how spiritual look how many scriptures they know look at how much deeper they have a relationship with the Lord than I do and that right there is what turns people off to fellowship and sometimes it's not that they're being uninviting sometimes sometimes most of the time it's that people are being too weird and you might be weirding them out assess it think about it and so what begins to happen they'll say oh that church is all clicks well first of all Jesus had his clicks with the crowds the 72 the 12 the 3 then the 1 I have people who are closer to me than other people there are some people I'm going to spend more time with than other people and that's just the reality of how relationships work this isn't necessarily unhealthy but when you go to a church there will be people you can connect with ask yourself am I speaking their language or am I speaking in a way that's alienating them am I trying to change the conversation to just what I want to talk about or am I talking about what everyone else is talking about am I being a nanny and just kind of criticizing them for not doing things the way I do or trying to place my own convictions not found in Scripture or by the Holy Spirit on them I had a teacher when I went I many of you know I went to a Baptist school and for the most part 99% great experience great godly people sweet people love Jesus I had one teacher though me and my friends were playing cards I think we were just playing what's that game where you go really fast with the cards speed there's no gambling involved just see who can put the cards fastest down based upon what's on the on the table and I had a teacher come by and she's hovering over us she goes play your cards you can play your cards and remember it was like kind of creepy she goes but remember every hand for her she said for every hand you deal you're giving a piece of your soul to Satan and she walked away all menacingly and we just kind of looked at each other just kind of shrug it off and kept playing some Christians are like that they're just all drinks out the weird in you the isolation does in fact I've noticed this especially with the pandemic that a lot of people have been pushed into isolation and because of that isolation it causes trouble I'll actually address that more in point number seven so so yes we we ought to fellowship we ought to have a church that we fellowship that's a healthy sign but make sure that you're not leaving churches going they didn't accept me let me just give you okay you're not going to like this but I have to give it to you because I love you you want to know how you can tell if you're the problem you know you're the problem if you've had to leave several churches because of what you're accusing them of so if every church I've tried all the churches in my area and every church I go to they don't invite me they're not fellowshiping they're rejecting me if that's every single church and the problem is not the church is the problem is probably you and the way you're acting when you go the only way you're going to find that true fellowship that connection is if you put down that front you put down that act it is an act and we do these things because of insecurity to try to project something so that people will like us people can see that and it turns people away instead just be real be honest talk to people say hey I'm looking for people to fellowship with and do it appropriately like if you're a man don't go don't go to the girls and the teen girls and the teen group and say hey girls I'm looking for someone to hang out you're going to creep them out or if you're you know a middle aged woman don't go to the young men in the young adults group and say hey what are you guys doing you want me to cook for you maybe if there's a motherly type relationship that develops like but give it time don't just you know come off like that but look for people in your in your like mindedness in your life situations and you may find that there's actually some connections to be made so I know some of this may seem a little harsh but again I'm not saying this to condemn you or tear you down I want to help maybe open up your eyes so that you can say okay I can adjust this and then on the benefit on the other side of this even though it's hard to hear on the other side of this hey you can you're going to find a good church now if you allow yourself to actually connect with people okay so so far we've seen some green flags they teach the word there's corporate worship there's corporate prayer there's fellowship number five they promote accountability now this is different than fellowship I'm going to show you how James 516 says this confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed the earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results so here the scripture is talking about the powerful role of confession like for example first John chapter one verse nine tells us that we confess to God that we may be forgiven but as we just read in James 516 we confess to one another that we might be healed I think that confession is one of the most underpracticed spirit in many believers lives they have this sense of individualism or this idea of I got it I can do this and really just leads to more trouble but accountability is the ability to confront one another on issues on sin issues on character flaws on the handling of situations on the way you come across like for example I talking to someone I'm in a great mood I think we're having a great conversation and then one of my friends will say hey it came off a little rude there I'm like really I didn't even I was enjoying my comfort like I was enjoying their company I didn't I didn't even see that but because of the way I came across I had to go and apologize that's being held accountable so sometimes it's being held accountable not even just for actual wrongdoing but for certain flaws maybe or miscommunications these are people if I may put it bluntly who can get in your face the Bible says as iron sharpens iron so a man sharpens his friend when iron sharpens iron sparks have to fly sometimes when there's that contact being made conflict produces results conflict produces results when we have people who can hold us accountable who can say to us we need friends who can say you're being mean you're being moody you're in sin you're being weird you're getting carried away you're being too sensitive we need friends who can tell us the truth and that is found in the community of believers now this is the role of confession confession to one another is different than confession to God don't take the religious approach that if I sin I have to go announcing my sins to the world that's not even the approach in the book of we see that even if you are confronted on sin it's done so privately first then to a smaller group then to the church and then your ex communicated if you don't repent of that we're not talking about that right now I'm talking about individual accountability when we confess our sins it's to God for forgiveness so you don't have to confess to one another to be forgiven but if you begin to develop this issue something that you can't quite get a hold of something that's becoming a habit a problem or maybe you're dealing with heartache or depression or anxiety or doubt or confusion and so forth when you begin to deal with this issue now you go to your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and you find that accountability in confession confession to one another is not for forgiveness confession to one another is for three things for healing for accountability and for the preservation of relationships this is when we've wronged someone in a way that apparently affects them like if you get mad at someone you just think a mean thought in your head toward them probably best to just keep that to yourself confess it to God all is forgiven like when David wrote against you and you alone have I sin I'm thinking Bathsheba's husband is going you sinned against me you killed me right but in reality when we sin we always sin primarily against God so as long as the other person is not affected maybe they don't even know you thought that thought just leave it ok we might start more trouble by going to them and you know every little thing and you may even annoy them I have to confess this to you I have to confess this to you at that point but really we see that confession is for healing so that that sin doesn't begin to rot the soul for accountability to help put together a plan of action to make sure that you're not going to continue to fall into these sinful habits and then the preservation of relationships this is to make sure that you're writing wrongs when you've affected someone in a way that they noticed or that's apparent to them you hurt them that's when it's time for confession now here's the flip side of this on the mistake end so we see that a green flag is the promotion of accountability on the flip side sometimes we who are looking for a home church we might accuse a church that's holding us accountable for wrongdoing we accuse them of being controlling I know this is not a popular thing to say I know this is not a popular thing to say but but it's the truth people who don't like accountability will always label their church as controlling now that doesn't mean that there's no such thing as a controlling church trust me we're going to address this in the red flags in the second portion of this message which will be much shorter than this first portion but you know we do label people as controlling sometimes and we don't want any accountability in our lives we label them as religious and legalistic when they're actually upholding standards of holiness we say oh they control you and you know again what's very popular today all that church is toxic what do you mean it's toxic it's toxic because it calls out sin for sin all that church was triggering what do you mean what do you mean triggering you mean they talked about issues they didn't like and confronting you in ways that the scripture actually confronts you all that church was abusive wait a minute was it actually abusive or was the church addressing things that you don't want to call sin but the bible calls sin this is something we have to evaluate and it's very popular today to label churches as toxic it's very popular today to call every leader we don't like narcissistic it's very popular today to call the body of Christ bigoted or you know these buzzwords that they use triggering toxic abusive what do they really mean by that most people I'm not saying that never happens but really is the case in many instances is that their sin was confronted or their sin was talked about or even what they did in the past which they acknowledge was sin was put in a negative light not them personally but it was talked about a negative light maybe from the pulpit and they didn't like it so they say oh that's abuse that's not spiritual abuse when you put it very simply calling sin sin is not spiritual abuse talking about sin in a negative way is not spiritual abuse calling you out on ways you could be more like Christ is not spiritual abuse now it can become spiritual abuse if it's done in the wrong way which I'm going to address trust me we will get there it happens I'm not you know my head in the sand and saying oh the church is never abusive there are instances but I find many times it's not actual spiritual abuse it's just people complaining that they were held accountable for sin so number five is that a church that's healthy will promote accountability number six there's an encouraging unto good works it's not just the community of believers sticking to that community and only helping one another but there's this reaching outward to the world Hebrews 10 24 says let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works these are people with which you'll build the kingdom of God these are people with which you will build the kingdom of God you reach out you evangelize you do good work in the community together you win souls expand the kingdom of God within the earth you do good that's a good sign of a church now on the flip side again I'm going to challenge you on both ends so yes encouraging good works is a healthy sign of a church but let me show you something that many people make a mistake on they get upset when a specific program isn't being done by that church so maybe a church has the resources to have maybe a feeding program and every once in a while they go overseas and are able to support missions and there's someone sitting in that church you have a feeding program but what about clothing those who need clothes or what about helping the orphans or what about helping the widows or what about the homeless down there at this street and they get upset because the specific charity program that they want to see implemented isn't implemented look not every church can do all the things you want it to do it's not the responsibility of every church to do everything all of us by simply doing our parts collectively become the effect of the kingdom of God like this ministry encounter TV we focus on media and events people get upset with us sometimes why aren't you doing this or why aren't you doing that or why aren't you building orphanages we say because God called us to do our part that's the proclamation of the gospel we are called to media and events and of course we do charity but it's not the primary push of this ministry churches are going to focus on different things and you can't get upset because the program you want isn't implemented in the way you want it so yes a green flag is that the church encourages and does good works but it's not a red flag just because they don't do the exact program you want now I'm going to tell you number seven and the number eight I'm going to spend some time on my goodness I'm I'm going to say it and I'm not afraid to say it but my prayer for you is that as we move the through these that you wouldn't allow offense to keep you from hearing the truth because I'm going to really step on some toes with number eight but we'll go to number seven right now Hebrews 313 and by the way the purpose isn't to offend it's to communicate truth but sometimes truth by its own none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God so here in Hebrews the scripture tells them to warn each other every single day well how did they do that every day they couldn't write letters every day and get them to each other every day how was the church to do this well Hebrews is the same portion of scripture it's the same book of the Bible that encourages the gathering with the saints so obviously this warning each other is to be done in community in person attendance people coming together and warning each other that is exactly what the scripture is describing and commanding us to do to get together and to help each other avoid deception and spiritual regression that's what it means when this verse talks about daily it's assuming they're gathering together please hear me when I say this isolation is the breeding ground for deception this is why during the pandemic many people who left their churches never went back because they became deceived some got into some weird conspiracy theories some got caught up in strange doctrines some got caught up in worldly culture and it happens when we begin to they lose their peace because they're taking all these weird doctrines and becoming tormented by things that are not even biblical and they go down these and then they begin to treat the rest hear me now this is for somebody then they begin to treat the rest of the body of Christ as if the rest of the body of Christ is somehow contamination well I don't want to go to that church because they're so compromised I don't want to go to that church because they're not on the level that I'm on and then we start to call ourselves things like the remnant look the bible does describe the remnant but people who isolate from the body that's not the remnant if you're not meeting together with the local body of believers you are not the remnant you are the rebellious and you're telling yourself they have it or they don't understand God or they don't want to go as deep as I do and that is dangerous danger danger danger that's spiritual pride and then on the flip side there are those who isolate because they've been hurt this is just as dangerous because you too can be caught up in some strange doctrines there are doctrines guys there are doctrines that caught fire during the pandemic that would have never caught or have become popular if people weren't in isolation and we're together avoiding deception that is a fact that's what I observed that's what I saw that when the body began to isolate there was this sudden rise in just the strangest most anti-biblical spiritually abusive unhealthy doctrines that just spread like well thank God we see it coming back now there's a balance coming back to the church that I see we've been doing a lot of work on this channel to counter some strange doctrines and now we're seeing it thank God that that's kind of fizzling out and people are coming grounded again they're getting planted in churches again they're coming back to the sanctity of the certainty of the foundation of God's word thank God so that's what's happening it's trending the other way now thank Jesus but that kind of scared me I saw it and people began to mix like their politics with their faith and came up with some weird stuff and that's not the only way that it happened there was lots of different categories of strange doctrines but that's what caught fire and this is why we must come together so that we can avoid deception and the caveat that I'll give here the flip side that I'll give here is much like what I gave with point number one when I talked about the preaching of the word number seven you also have to be careful not to be nitpicky right not everything is a deception but a good healthy church will come together avoid deception and they won't just bring anybody in to their pulpits and won't just give anybody influence like you know here I very rarely have people on and I'm careful about it because I want to make sure that we're aligned at least in the fundamentals of the faith but a good church is going to help people avoid deception okay number eight and then I'm going to give you red flags okay number eight here we go and those of you just joining us what I'm doing here is I'm giving green flags things that will indicate to you that a church is healthy and worth staying planted in and the way we're doing this is I'm showing you from Scripture what the Bible teaches is the purpose of the church and in identifying the purpose of the church we are seeing green flags because in the purpose there is practice in those practices we see indicators that a church is good to attend also what I'm doing as I move through these green flags I'm showing how attendees people who are looking for a home church make mistakes and leave perfectly healthy churches because they had a wrong perspective on these elements that make up a healthy church so number eight I'm going to give it to you and then I'm going to give you the caveat here or the flip side here the mistakes that many people make here and a lot of you are not going to like this and before I say this just please understand I love you and I'm telling you this because I have a responsibility to teach the word responsibility to God's people I would not teach you something just to tickle your ears I have to share this I'm not teaching this to offend anyone I'm teaching this just as reality of Scripture 1 Corinthians 12-7 a spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other where are these spiritual gifts exercised? these spiritual gifts are exercised in the community of believers these spiritual gifts are exercised when we come together you cannot grow a spiritual gift in isolation that's not the New Testament reality so the exercising of spiritual gifts is something that is so fundamental that's key to the local body of believers that a green flag for a church that you attend is that the church allows for the practice and the expression of the spiritual gifts you cannot use your spiritual gifts in isolation and unfamiliarity you must be tested and proven so this discounts those who just kind of go from church to church and they want to prophesy they want to do deliverance so they want to pray for healing of the sick like nobody knows you how do we know you're not just some person who got kicked out of another church for causing division now you're just coming here you want ministry expression and influence that's not the New Testament standard the New Testament does not allow for rogue ministers whenever someone is to gain influence in the local body of believers the scripture makes it absolutely clear that they must be known and well respected among that same group of believers so you must be respected among those you minister to and if you're not respected among those you minister to you need to give time for that respect to be developed to be known to be understood to to be proven as the scripture says so a healthy church is going to allow for the expression of the spiritual gifts speaking in tongues praying for the sick casting out devils the power of the Holy Spirit moving in partation these are wonderful things that need to be happening in your local church now the caveat the part that I want to be careful with how I say because I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm saying let me say this I believe in and practice the ministry of healing I believe in and I practice the ministry of deliverance I believe in and I practice the ministry of the prophetic I believe in and I practice the spiritual gifts here's the problem sometimes we'll go to a church and because they're not prophesying enough in our standard because they're not casting out devils as often as we want to see it because they're not praying for the sick in a way we want to see it because they're not exercising the spiritual gifts as often as we want to see them exercised we say I'm going to go to a church where they're surrendered I want to go to the church that's and we use words like deeper more surrendered more aligned more more given to God more radical more on fire I left my other church because they didn't have the fire I left my church because they weren't radical I left my church because they weren't deep enough for me wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute this is to disrespect the other elements of a church service like worship like the teaching of the word like corporate prayer for example when people talk about prophecy why I didn't go to the church because they didn't really let you prophesy they didn't really let a free expression of the prophetic and then they go to a church where all they do is prophesy and they don't realize they may have actually left an orderly spirit inspired church and have gone to a church where there was in fact too much emphasis on the prophetic you say can that be well yeah if there's so much emphasis on the prophetic that there's never the preaching of the word there's never worship there's never giving there's never fellowship there's never time for any of the expressions of any of the other spiritual gifts then yes that's too much focus on the prophetic any church that's more focused on a gift than it is on Jesus is a dangerous one any church that's more focused on an expression of ministry than it is on Jesus is in danger now am I saying we shouldn't prophesy pray for the sick cast out demons practice spiritual gifts no you see all of that at all of our services I'm a big believer in that in fact I've drawn a lot of criticism because I practice these things so I'm right there with you on that but think about how religious it is to say well they didn't prophesy enough they didn't pray for the sick enough like what in your mind is the correct ratio then do you want 50% of the service to be prophesy and healing do you want 75% and what if it's only 74% at what point do you say it was enough this is to pretend that the word of God is an obstruction to the move of the Holy Spirit let me tell you the word isn't a barrier to the Holy Spirit moving it's the foundation upon which he moves the word in the Spirit don't contradict one another we have these sayings like man God moves so powerfully no one even preached the word and while I acknowledge that at times there are services where there is more emphasis on the spiritual gifts then on the preaching of the word sometimes that happens and sometimes that's the Holy Spirit I must also acknowledge that this desire to be rid of the word this desire to be rid of any structure is just not godly and this is coming from someone who's been accused look they don't even consider me a charismatic I'm considered a what's the word they use for me like an extreme charismatic there's a certain word for it like a theological term you might know it hyper charismatic me in most people's book I'm a hyper charismatic and I'm telling you this as something that's biblical well they don't allow prophecy wait a minute wait a minute they don't allow prophecy or they didn't give you the microphone and let you prophesy just asking this is something we need to understand here that there are other elements of the church service well they don't believe in healing they don't believe in healing or they don't make every service a healing service where everyone's laying hands on the sick well they don't do deliverance wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute are people getting delivered keep in mind there's a difference between deliverance exorcism which is a type of deliverance and then spiritual breakthrough which happens every time somebody hears the word I mean deliverance in the believer's life is simply the breaking of a stronghold and then you have things like addiction being broken that's like the spiritual breakthrough and then you have exorcism that's where someone is possessed by a demon you're casting it out and that demon is manifesting and here's the reality with that there are people who use rituals and if you're not they say you're not practicing deliverance and this is very dangerous people complain because the deliverance didn't happen in the church well think about it is it that deliverance isn't happening or is it that the superstitious rituals aren't happening this is something you have to ask they don't practice deliverance wait a minute people aren't getting set free people aren't getting safe people aren't coming off of drugs people aren't getting free from demonic bondage people if that's happening what is it you're saying is not happening the deliverance or the rituals that you think are necessary for the deliverance when people talk about the spiritual gifts spiritual gifts aren't allowed to flow there the spiritual gifts aren't allowed to flow there or it's not taking up enough of the service for you guys we have to be careful here some people believe a godly church where people are being saved healed and they're getting spiritual gifts imparted in them people are being released in the spiritual gifts and because they're not doing something often enough or as much as we want to see it or it's not taking up a large enough portion of the service or they're not doing it in the way that we've been taught it should be done we say that church doesn't practice that and then we dismiss it and then we say they're less spiritual when it was our spiritual pride that took us out of community and then we get lost in isolation and therefore bound to deception things we must consider we must consider so a healthy sign of a church is that the spiritual gifts are exercised but be careful how you criticize a church is it that they don't believe in healing or is it that they're not running every service like a healing service is it that they don't believe in prophecy or is it that they're not letting prophecy run throughout the whole service is it that they're not letting you prophesy is it that they don't believe in and practice deliverance or is it that they don't practice the rituals that they imagine are necessary for deliverance is it that they don't believe in the spiritual gifts or is it that the spiritual gifts don't take up enough of a ratio or a percentage of the service itself be careful here so to recap on green flags I'm going to give you a quick breakdown of some red flags which will go through relatively quickly at least in comparison to how long it took me to go through good flags you're looking for a church look for a church where they're teaching the word remember we went over fundamentals where there's corporate worship where there's corporate prayer where there's fellowship the promotion of accountability where you're encouraged to do good works that's reaching outside to the community, evangelism things like that where there's the avoidance of deception and this is done in community and where there's the exercise of the spiritual gifts unite on the primary give grace for the peripheral otherwise you will never find the church and I don't mean it directly to you but somebody once said if you find the perfect church don't go there because then it won't be perfect anymore and I can identify with that because if I found the perfect church and then I started attending it would cease to be perfect because I would be in it so that perfect church in your mind just doesn't exist and this is why we have to give grace to one another people are going to hurt you and the closer someone is to you the more they'll hurt you period and we just have to accept that as a fact of life are we going to move past those hurts are we going to move past those disagreements so that we can find community in the body of Christ so I'm going to give you these red flags but first if you're enjoying this teaching I need to make sure that you leave a like let me know also in the comment section what's blessing you because comments help to spread this message you think people need to hear this more people need to be aware of these truths help me out leave a simple simple like and then also leave a comment and don't forget to subscribe to EncounterTV and click that notification bell our content is Spiritfield Bible based Jesus centered where your kind of people join with us subscribe to EncounterTV and again click that notification bell when you do so like the video leave a comment subscribe and click that notification bell ok red flags here now of course the red flags would be the opposite of everything we just listed and I'm going to list those plus I'm going to show you some things that actually might reveal that your church may be more of a cult than a church ok so number one we saw that hearing the word of God or the teaching of the word of God was a green flag so a red flag would be false teaching what is false teaching false teaching by definition is not teaching that you don't agree with false teaching by definition is the violation of one of the fundamentals of the faith so the incarnation of Christ deity of Christ salvation and only through Christ salvation by grace through faith and so on I listed these at the top of the live stream now this might give rise to heresy hunters but if you look at scriptures like 1 John 4 1 or verses 1 through 3 verses like chapter 1 verses 3 through 4 you actually see that anytime you see instructions on defending the faith or contending for truth or calling out false teachers in context that the Bible actually gives you very specific reasons for doing so it's not just a blanket statement call everyone out I'm fighting for the faith by criticizing everyone who disagrees with me that is a misunderstanding and a misapplication and an avoidance of the context which is so important to many of the heresy hunters of these scriptures that were just referenced the Bible gives us very specific reasons for calling out false teachers all of those reasons have to do with violations of the fundamentals not of the peripheral doctrine so if someone is violating the fundamentals of the faith leave that church don't hesitate don't pray about it don't try to get them to repent leave the church that's not the church if they don't believe the fundamentals number 2 corporate worship if there's no worship of God no acknowledgement of the greatness of God you're not worshiping Jesus there's no acknowledgement of his greatness this is a red flag if everything is all about just becoming successful then you're in a club not a church and you need to make sure to reevaluate that corporate prayer obviously is a sign of a good church so the inverse is true if there's no corporate prayer or no emphasis on prayer this is a problem area and so that is a red flag if there's no community fellowship that's a red flag if they permit sin in other words there's no accountability so kind of just pat them on the back well you can keep on sinning don't tell anyone leave that church guys I'm telling you and look please don't misunderstand sometimes someone will fall into sin and they work on restoring them or they follow the protocols in the book of Matthew where they went to them privately they repented of their sins okay move on no need to publicly shame them just move on that's not what I'm talking about or someone struggling with sin I'm talking about blatant permission of sin you live how you want is a red flag when there's no promotion of accountability then we see the encouraging of good works if all the benefit goes toward just the man and the woman in charge that's a red flag because the good works don't reach out to others it only goes upwards then you're in like a what do you want to call it like a pyramid scheme so to speak then there is the avoiding of deception which was a great green flag but if they just kind of allow any doctrines in people of different religions so like your church allows a Muslim to come and speak bolt out that door your church allows someone from a false belief to come in and preach bolt out that door that's not of God so they don't care about avoiding deception that's a problem or they're bringing in people who violate fundamentals of the faith bolt out that door don't even give it a second thought don't pray about it don't think about it don't go and talk to somebody about it don't try to go and talk to the pastor and change their mind that is not the church leave that church and then the exercise of spiritual gifts now here I have to be careful because not every church believes in the spiritual gifts to me it's an important primary I should say forgive me let me reword that to me the subject of the spiritual gifts is an important peripheral but I wouldn't call it a primary doctrine of the faith but here's what I will encourage you this is why this one's a little different if you're someone who believes in the spiritual gifts you're going to run into confrontation with those people who don't and you're not going to be able to serve together so there are some instances where certain doctrines do prevent you from serving with each other because it's just so different that it would actually cause a lot of conflict so if you're laying hands on the sick they don't believe in that they're just not going to allow you with good you're not going to be able to do that with any freedom so again this is not a primary this doesn't mean that they're not Christians but if they're not practicing the spiritual gifts they don't believe in the power of the Holy Spirit I would say remove yourself from that fellowship and go find somewhere that they can allow for the practicing of the spiritual gifts this doesn't mean they're not Christians this doesn't mean they're not the true body of Christ this just means on this one issue again this is why this one is so different because it's not a fundamental it is very difficult to work with someone a fundamental being something that makes someone a Christian but whether you believe in the spiritual gifts or not as long as you believe the fundamentals you're still a Christian but it's very difficult to work with a body of believers who don't believe in the spiritual gifts like you so on this one even though they're still Christians even though they're still believers even though they still agree with you on the fundamentals it's just not going to be possible to really serve together so I would say try to find a church that believes in this again there are primaries, peripherals and then important peripherals and I would say exercising the spiritual gifts is one of the important peripherals or another way toward it which I thought to use was there are green lights right like the fundamentals of the faith and then there are yellow lights and then there are red lights red light means they violate a fundamental green light means they're all for the fundamentals yellow light means on some of the things that are important to you in this agreement it may be better just to go because I'm going to tell you one of two things is going to happen either you're going to cause division or you're not going to be able to practice your beliefs like you want to this idea of maybe I can change the church that doesn't really happen unless it absolutely is the Holy Spirit you're more so just going to be labeled as someone who is causing division so just be very careful with that now signs that you may be in more of a cult than a church I'm going to tell you some things maybe open your eyes about the way the church operates remember this pastors are there for spiritual guidance not for spiritual dictatorship your pastor is a covering not a lid so here are some signs that your church can be red flagged now keep in mind that some churches may have some of these issues that they're working through maybe in the culture there are some unhealthy dynamics that they're trying to fix so give some grace with these but do be aware of them ok so the first one I'll give you is that righteousness is equated with an extra biblical adherence to a specific set of rules and expectations Colossians 2.16 says don't let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or sabbaths interesting so be careful when they try to put extra biblical restrictions on you and then condemn you for not keeping what they say you need to do to be spiritual but with the bible doesn't so in other words oh I didn't see you at bible study on Friday are you a true disciple of Jesus well who's to say that they're to set the schedule for your spiritual life again this is not a complete red flag but watch for this this could be that yellow light as I said here's another red flag right standing with God is connected to right standing with a certain man or woman of God in other words if you have a disagreement with the pastor you have a disagreement with God that's not the case be careful of language like that here's a major red flag leadership is constantly over emphasizing ideas like submission to leadership submission to spiritual headship that's biblical but if there's an overemphasis on this like every guest speakers talking about it every guest speakers talking about how to honor your pastor respect them listen to them stay with them it's probably because the pastor is telling the guest speaker to say that and the pastor talking about it every sermon and he ties he or she ties your spiritual well-being to your relationship with them very very dangerous another red flag leadership is above healthy respectful questioning now I'm not talking about the facebook theologians and the youtube apostles and you know the keyboard warriors I'm talking about people with genuine concerns and questions who are coming with these questions to leadership and you're being respectful about it it's healthy it's respectful genuine concerns and they just shut you down and rebuke you for bringing that up if it was actually respectful and sincere here and in love and grace and honor they should actually address those questions oh boy here's another one members are kept tired overworked and unable to do much else besides church and ministry you feel guilty for taking a family vacation you feel guilty for taking a night out to take your wife to dinner you feel guilty for going to see your children graduate you feel guilty for going and being a part of something in your child's life you feel guilty for not keeping to the program 100% dangerous because cults like to keep people overworked because if they can keep you exhausted they can keep you susceptible if they can keep you exhausted they can keep you compliant so if they're constantly looking to fill your full schedule red flag the next one and they condemn rest that's big they condemn rest the next red flag here is members are afraid to make life decisions without the permission of leadership oh my goodness this is major so you want to marry someone you want to pursue a degree you want to get a job leadership is there to counsel you not permit you you're not a child you're not they treat grown men and women like their children you didn't ask permission you didn't tell me you were going after that degree you didn't tell me you changed jobs you didn't tell me you started dating that person who's godly and who meets all the requirements of biblical standards but you still didn't pass it by me dangerous because leadership is there to counsel and guide not control and if members are afraid to make life decisions without the permission very different than counsel you should get counsel from leadership but if members are afraid to make life decisions without the permission of leadership dangerous another red flag members who leave no matter the surrounding circumstances are labeled as rebellious or outside of the will of god so if your church just has a long line of people who are all labeled rebellious and if people are constantly leaving and not just anybody look every church has people who come who handle things inappropriately who rebel against leadership in actual religious ways and leave every church has that and then they try to trash talk the pastor every church every ministry has that but look at the track record look at the track record of the individual like for instance people criticize a ministry look at their track record is that all they do is criticize ministries okay you can probably dismiss what they're saying because they're just gossips they're slanderers but if that person has a track record maybe they went to that church for 10 years 15 years 20 years and this church has a track record of people who were there 5 10 15 20 years constantly leaving and saying I can't do it anymore it's just an unhealthy environment you better pay attention because if there's a long line of people who are all although they were all rebellious really the people who were most loyal to you for decades leaving your church constantly they're all rebellious that constant revolving door of people leaving because of problems with controlling leadership they're all rebellious think again so members who leave no matter the surrounding circumstances are labeled as rebellious or outside the will of God and by the way if a man or woman ever tells you that you can't fulfill the call of God without their influence that's control that's witchcraft that's manipulation and that is a red flag major red flag major red flag value that you can't fulfill God's call without their influence major red flag another red flag members are discouraged from fellow shipping with believers from other churches and ministries I'll leave that one right there I think that's clear enough members are afraid of missing any church function for any reason for fear of being rebuked looked down upon or otherwise ostracized next members are seen as belonging to a man or woman of God in other words pastors fighting over people as if their property hey you didn't tell me so-and-so was going to your church that's my couple that's my family those are my members no they're not they're God's people you know the difference between Moses and Pharaoh Pharaoh thought the people belong to him Moses knew the people belong to God that's why one was a great leader and one was a dictator that God had to overthrow because they didn't Pharaoh didn't understand that the people didn't belong to him they belong to God so this idea you're my people because you somehow were directed here to sit in the pew for a couple weeks in a row now you're mine and if you go anywhere else that's rebellious and that pastor better call me dangerous dangerous dangerous major major major red flag when pastors fight over people as if their property that's a red flag if you're afraid here we go this is the final one here if you're afraid to assess or even consider these signs that I'm giving you because you are afraid of being embarrassed rejected or rebuked that's a sign that's a red flag you can't even consider what I'm saying you can't even ponder these things I'm bringing to your attention dangerous I'm going to pray and then I want to talk to you something that's familiar to you and please don't name your churches any comment that names churches or ministries or people going to get deleted because we're not about that here again we are a very healthy online community I want to keep it that way but maybe these principles are standing out to you let me know which one which green flags stood out to you I'm going to pray with you don't turn off the video because I want to talk to you about something father in the name of Jesus I pray Lord that you would help your people to be guided by your word that they might be planted in a church to call home help them father to make the right decision based upon your truth we honor we bless you in the mighty name of Jesus I want you to say it because you believe it say amen now don't turn off the video I know it's tempting the lessons over there's other things to click on just hear me out for just a minute our ministry is expanding we have lots of goals lots of things we're doing and even in times of recession and economic decline this ministry is growing month over month I want you to connect with that favor I want you to be a part of what we're doing the world wide evangelism think about all the things you spend your money on yes I'm talking about money yes I'm taking an offering open your heart this is an act of worship Jesus said where your treasure is there will your heart be also think about all the ways you spend your money how much a month do you spend on coffee how much a month do you spend on streaming services how much a month do you spend on entertainment going out to eat buying extra clothes and none of these things are bad none of these things are evil the scripture declares that God gives us everything we need for our enjoyment and that's fine but I want to ask you if you can't support this ministry I want to ask you why now some of us have legitimate things we have to take care of but in reality all of us as believers should be giving to the gospel that's our responsibility I'm not saying this to condemn anyone I'm saying this that you might know the truth and when you know this truth of stewardship and generosity positions you biblically speaking for God to increase your resources for Paul the apostle wrote when he talked about money, Paul was talking about money when he said that if you so sparingly you'll reap sparingly if you so bountifully you'll reap bountifully that's Bible 100% no getting around it and so I want to challenge you to do what you can to help this ministry live streams like this take resources the content that we put out week after week takes resources the events we do around the world takes resources the studio we're building right now we have less than a month to fund the final part of this studio now we may be able to extend that over I don't know I have to talk to my CFO see what we can do but we're right in the final days if you see that updated great praise God if not then we absolutely are in the final days I have to check the details on that if you will so don't quote me exactly here on the bottom line we are ready to expand we're ready to grow don't let fear cause you to hold back consider what do you support with your resources what do you give your finances to and instead support the gospel I want to challenge you right now give a gift if you consider this your primary source of ministry and primary source of spiritual sustenance we've had people ask can we change this in offerings absolutely you can change it to whatever amount you want but I'm asking you to partner with this monthly or give a one time gift any gift large or small it's going to help everything it's going to help fund the live streams the media the events and this brand new studio that we're building now you may watch this sometime later and the studio may be funded but that doesn't mean the ministries close down all gifts coming into this ministry go toward the work of evangelism so I want to challenge you now as tempting as it is to click away as tempting as it is to say well the other people will do it as tempting as it is to fill that disconnection because you just so happen to be watching a live stream as tempting as that is I'm asking you to resist that temptation I believe you'll be so glad you did there's nothing like generosity so partner with us today become a monthly supporter or give a one time gift help this ministry expand its reach all around the world you can go right now to davidhernanisministries.com slash donate at that link you can give a one time gift or you can turn it into a monthly gift but I'm asking everyone everyone who's listening to me now you're watching this I'm asking you to do what you can one time or monthly large or small any amount all of us coming together isn't that the body of Christ in one common goal one more time davidhernanisministries.com slash donate now if you love this message this guidance on helping to find a home church and you're going to love how to know you are in God's will three important signs in that teaching I give you three biblical indicators that you are walking in God's will