“The old evil foe now means deadly woe; Deep guile and great might are his dread arms in fight;
On earth is not his equal.”
What pops into your mind when you hear “church”? Perhaps a dear place of worship, a building? Perhaps the time of service; “I go to 8 o’clock church”? Perhaps a congregation with its personnel, bylaws, budgets, and so on? The word “church” probably evokes some aspect of the institutional Christian church
Guess what? In the years of explosive growth after Pentecost, there was no institutional Christian church! In fact, the word “Christian” doesn’t appear until Acts 11:26, “In Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.” Sometimes they were called the “sect of the Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5) because they were a part of Judaism that believed the Messiah had come in Jesus of Nazareth. The church’s full break from Judaism didn’t come until after 70 A.D. Other times they were called “People of the Way” because they followed the One who is “the way, the truth and the life” (Acts 9:2; John 14:6). They were following Jesus, following the Messiah consciously and publicly.
Satan doesn’t mind you being active in the church, just as long as you don’t think of the church as people who single-mindedly hear, obey, and follow Jesus. Think of the church as an institution, like a community service organization, and the wily foe is happy. But think of your church as sheep following the Good Shepherd (John 10:27-28) and Satan’s schemes are thwarted and the mission grows.
“This world’s prince may still scowl fierce as he will, he can harm us none. He’s judged; the deed is done; one little word can fell him.”
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