How Should My Family Choose a New Church?

How can I wisely choose a church without feeling like I'm shopping for a new car? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. This is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question at 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673.

Of course, you can always email us at questions at corechristianity.com or you can post your question on our Facebook or Instagram or Twitter accounts. First up, those Estonians really love their basketball. The Estonian Basketball Association celebrated the sport's 100th anniversary by breaking a Guinness World Record with the help of players at 71 courts across Estonia. Players at 71 outdoor courts in the country broke a Guinness Record on Saturday by sinking a total of 114,000 free throw shots in eight hours, surpassing their original goal of 100,000 shots. Players in the event included Estonian professional basketball players, didn't know there were such a thing, and officials, including Prime Minister Juri Ratas. The Prime Minister sank 10 free throws in one minute as part of the record.

Wow, pretty amazing. Yeah, coming together to play basketball. Have there been any Estonian players in the NBA? I'm trying to think of that. I don't know.

I don't know. Are you a big NBA fan? No, I'm not a big NBA fan, but I've given the Estonians interest in this. I may travel over there and see if I can shoot some free throws with the dudes.

Good luck with that bill. Yeah. I mean, I like football. I grew up playing football, basketball.

I do pick up games, but my ankles don't work very well for basketball. I feel like so, you know, I had, I stuck to, you know, reading books in pastoral ministry and that kind of thing. Well, you're good at that.

And you probably will get a world record for that in one of these days. All right, let's get to our first question of the day. Gabe emailed us from South Africa from Cape Town, and he says, I have many good Christian friends who say the mark of the beast is an actual physical mark on your body. My view is that it's simply a figurative way of speaking about the devil's ownership, much like being sealed with the Spirit refers to our security and belonging to Jesus. I tried to explain my view to a friend recently, and her angry response was, well, I believe what the Bible says.

I wanted to retort, well, so do I. How can I lovingly present a balanced biblical view on this matter? At the end of the day, there are all sorts of different interpretations on the Bible, and some of them are true and others not true. And so we have to dig in deeper to the Scriptures. It's not enough just to say, I believe the Bible, just take it at face value.

Well, you have to be careful there. And one of the, one of the important things, Gabe, that we have to recognize is that different books of the Bible, you know, have different genres, and these different genres ought to be interpreted differently. You don't read, for example, a children's story in the same way that you would read a history book or a math book.

You know, you, you understand that. You're getting something different there, and so you need to, you have to understand, your friend has to understand that the Book of Revelation was written in a particular genre, and that genre is apocalyptic visionary prophecy. Now, what we find with that particular genre is that often you have symbolism and numbers, for example, can be used symbolically. You think of earlier in the Book of Revelation talks about seven golden lampstands, and we're told that those refer to the Bible. The seven churches that John was addressing. Jesus is depicted in the Book of Revelation as a lamb standing as though he had been slain.

Was Jesus a literal lamb in heaven? We just want to take the Bible at face value. We want to interpret it literally. Well, you know, you have to understand what's happening there in the Book of Revelation. It's apocalyptic visionary prophecy. And so John is getting these symbols, these images that are meant to teach us something about God, about the world, about the church, about ourselves. The passage you're referring to, is in Revelation 13.

And really, I think with the rise of the Left Behind series and a lot of discussion about end times in the last 30 years, the mark of the beast has been the talk of a lot of Christians for some time. This is what John says in Revelation chapter 13, speaking about the second beast beginning in verse 15, it says, it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. Also, it causes all both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or on the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark that is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast for it is the number of a man. And his number is 666.

Look, this this calls for wisdom. We want to be careful as we approach this text, we interpret it the correct way. Throughout the book of Revelation, you have these these symbols, numbers are often used symbolically.

And I think what John is doing here and you I think already understand it sounds like this is what you understand this to be as well, Gabe, if he's revealing to us how the evil one Satan attempts to replicate to counterfeit what God himself does for his children. So one of the things we see throughout the book of Revelation, is that God puts his seal on his children, on their foreheads even. Revelation chapter 7 verse 3 says this, Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. And I heard the number of the sealed 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel.

For any green plant or any tree but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. Revelation chapter 14 verse 1, Then I looked and behold on Mount Zion stood the Lamb and with him 144,000 who had his name and his father's name written on their foreheads. You see this all the way towards the end of the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 22 verse 4.

Will be on their foreheads. So get what what John is doing here throughout the book of Revelation. He said the people of God are marked by God's name, his seal on their foreheads.

They belong to him. Well, they're in Revelation Revelation 13 when he talks about the mark of the beast. It's almost as if the evil one is trying to mimic God and putting his seal the number of man 666 on his followers. And so it really is this picture of ownership.

I don't know that we have to say it's this literal, you know tattoo that people get on their foreheads. No, John says in 1st John that the spirit of the Antichrist is already at work in the world today. And so the question for each of us is who do you belong to? Are you sealed by the Holy Spirit? Do you have faith in Jesus Christ? Do you belong to him? Or are you under the spirit of the Antichrist?

Are you taken captive by him? And that's essentially what you have there in Revelation chapter 13 is the children of the evil one marked by him sealed by him because they haven't trusted in Christ. And so Gabe, that's how I would take it.

I would say just one more thing, you know, in terms of engaging your friend. Do it with humility with love. You want to approach it humbly and say look different books of the Bible have to be interpreted according to their genre. And what we have here is visionary prophecy.

And so as we approach the text of the book of Revelation, we have to keep that in mind and let that help us guide us as we interpret these difficult passages. God bless you. John 6, 65. That would be great.

Thank you. We're told in verse 22 on the next day, the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had only been one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. And so they go and they follow him and they find him and they want more bread. And Jesus says to them, I am the bread of life. And it's in that passage in John 6 where he says you have to eat my flesh and drink my blood and the crowds are shocked.

The people are turned off. What is he talking about? The religious leaders, they have a serious issue with this. Eat my flesh and drink my blood. And so Jesus responds to them. If you go back a few verses in verse 41, the Jews grumbled about him because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say I have come down from heaven? Jesus answered them, Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him.

And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to me.

It's kind of a jab there to the religious leaders. You must have not heard and learned from the father. And that's the background to verse 65. In verse 65, again, he said, This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my father.

Here's the big takeaway here. What Jesus is teaching us is that apart from Christ, apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, we would have never turned to God. It really is kind of a shocking thing, and sometimes it's a difficult truth for us to accept because, you know, we hear it all around us in society and even in the church, this sort of view of mankind that basically we're good. Just need maybe a little bit of help from God, maybe add a little bit of religion to my life, but I'm a decent person. I'm spiritual, right? Most people today would call themselves spiritual. I'm spiritual but not religious.

I'm sure you've heard that. Well, according to the Bible, apart from Christ, apart from the work of regeneration, the new birth, our hearts are like stones. And Paul said in the book of Ephesians, in Ephesians 2, we are dead. We're dead in our trespasses and sins. And so if we're going to come to God, it has to be that the father is drawing us by the grace of the Holy Spirit to his son, Jesus.

And if he didn't do that, we would be completely lost. One of the truths that's being highlighted here, John, is God's absolute sovereignty in salvation and our need of the work of the Holy Spirit to come to him. Now, I know what you might be thinking, and what you might be thinking as you listen to this, well, what if I'm not drawn? What if I'm not one of the ones who's given to Jesus by the father? Well, here's what I would say to you. You know, in that same passage, in John chapter 6, in verse 37, listen to what our Lord said, all that the father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me, I will never cast out.

What a promise for you right now. If you go to Jesus, He will not cast you out. You have a bunch of baggage, a lot of sin, failures? Go to Him. Turn to Him by faith.

He won't cast you out. And the amazing thing is when you do that, you recognize that you can only do that because of the grace of God and because of the work of the Father drawing you to His Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. Don, thanks for your question.

Great response, Adriel, thank you. You are listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and we have an awesome offer for you today. In fact, we are offering the very book that helped launch this show. Yeah, we're excited today to share the book that was a big catalyst for this show, Dr. Michael Horton's Core Christianity. Over the years, we've heard from many Christians who have shared their struggle to see how the Bible is relevant for the 21st century.

But Core Christianity focuses on the essential Christian beliefs and shows why they matter for our lives today. Basically, this book is going to help you study who God is and what He's done for you. It's going to really bless you in your relationship with the Lord. So take advantage of this offer and head over to corechristianity.com forward slash offers, or give us a call at 833-THE-CORE. Thanks so much for listening and go request your copy today. We'd love to get that book into your hands. We know it'll be very, very helpful. Here's the phone number again.

It's 833-843-2673, 833-THE-CORE. Adriel, let's get to another question. This one comes from Terry who posted on our website at corechristianity.com. And she says, I recently moved and I'm looking for a new church. I really don't like the term church shopping because our family in Christ isn't something we buy for ourselves. But I also wonder if I don't reflect the idea when I compare the different churches I visit. I like this one's preaching, that one's music, that one's location or the people and the other one. How can I wisely choose a church without feeling like I'm shopping for a new car?

Terry, thanks for that question. You know, all the things you just mentioned are really important. Preaching, music, the location, the people, right? Do you feel welcome there?

Is this a place where you're going to be able to build Christian community, have relationships that are going to encourage you in your walk with the Lord? All of that is really important. But some of those things are going to be more important than others.

And so I think you want to make sure that the priorities are in the right place. First and foremost, what is the church teaching? Does the church preach the Bible?

Let me go a little bit further here. Does it preach the cross? You know, I'm constantly amazed when I think about the Apostle Paul. He talks about his ministry, and he writes to the Corinthians. He says, you know, I purposed to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You think about Paul with all of his wisdom, with all of his learning, with the revelations he had received, the visions he had had. I mean, this is a guy who had a vision of Jesus, got knocked off of his horse. And yet what's the focus of his ministry?

It's not miraculous gifts. It's not the things he learned in Torah school. The focus of his ministry is Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

What's the message that you're hearing every week? I've been to churches that were biblical in a sense, too. You know, they gave a good history lesson and a lecture explaining the Bible, but that didn't do as good of a job at fixing my eyes on Jesus and His work for me. Above all else, when you're determining where to go to church, ask yourself, is Jesus Christ's work for me being billboarded by the preaching, or is the focus on me, on, you know, how I can be a better person?

It's not that those things are bad. It's not that, you know, practical wisdom in terms of how to live as a Christian. No, we need that, but the focus of the ministry has to be the cross of Jesus Christ and the gospel, His work for us. And so I think that's the main thing. Music is important, like I said, but I'd say even there, you know, you want to make sure that you're more interested in the words that are being sung than in the tune or the band. The goal of music and worship is that the word of Christ would dwell in us richly. Music is just another one of the mechanisms that God uses to get His word into our hearts, to get the faith into our hearts. And so is Christ being proclaimed?

Is the truth being heralded, you know, from the Scriptures? That's the main thing. The other stuff, I mean, it is important.

I do encourage people to try to find a church that's close by, because I think just practically speaking, it's going to help you engage with the life of the community more, you know, get to know people. I mean, that's important. It's not just gathering together to receive God's gifts on Sunday.

I mean, that's key. We have to have that, and that's what God calls us to. God calls us to worship every week to receive His gifts, but we should be growing in our faith day by day together with other believers. The author of the Hebrews said in Hebrews 3, let's encourage each other day by day while it is called today, lest we're hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. And so a church that focuses on Jesus, on His gospel, that brings together sinners from all different stripes into this family, this community of faith, where we can grow together, not just on a Sunday morning, but throughout the week, even in our relationships, as we get to know each other and get to know Christ better through our relationships with each other.

And that's what you want to look for. But prioritize God's word, prioritize the gospel, and then ask yourself, you know, where's that at? Where am I going to be nourished by the truth of the gospel and grounded in those truths securely?

That's where you want to be. And so, sister, I hope that that helps you as you think about this decision. And maybe, Bill, I just want to pray really quickly for Terry and ask the Lord to guide her. Father, we know how difficult it is to move to a new place and to have to look for a new church, Lord, especially if we've left the church that we were really plugged into. And I pray for Terry that you would guide her and that you would help her to find just the perfect place where she's going to be able to hear your word, to be nourished by your grace, by the gospel of your son, Jesus, and grow in her relationship with other believers there, where she can be an encouragement and where she's going to be encouraged. So guide her, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

Terry, thanks so much for your question. And we do pray that you'll find a great church you can get plugged into really soon. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

And, Adriel, here's a question that came in from Daniel through our email. He says, recently, I've been struggling with some doubts about the Bible, particularly with the historicity of Noah's Ark. The Bible paints this event as an event that happened in real space-time history, but what do we do when it seems like modern science says this has been proved false? Is our faith in vain if Noah's Ark didn't actually happen? You know what I think, Bill? We should raise money to get an expedition together to find the Ark.

Because I know that a couple of these have happened, but I don't know that they've come up with anything yet, so maybe that's the answer. Daniel, you're right. This can be a struggle for believers, and the Bible does. When we talk about the flood, Noah's Ark, the Bible's putting that forward for us as history. This isn't just a nice story for us to glean some spiritual truths from or something like that.

That is the case. We are to glean all sorts of things from this story, but it actually happened according to the Bible, and it actually happened according to Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 24, verses 37 through 39, For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Peter also, he references the flood and the time of Noah in 1 and 2. Peter actually, he ties a line of analogy between the flood there and our baptisms today. So there's sort of a theological point that can be made when we think about Noah's flood, the judgment, sort of salvation through judgment. Well, that's what baptism is today.

We're baptized into Jesus Christ, into his death and resurrection, and we're saved through the judgment that was on him. He entered into the flood waters of death so that we might rise again with him through those waters as we're united to Jesus Christ. And Daniel, regarding the fact that, you know, you hear people say things like, well, you know, this has been scientifically proved false.

I don't know that that's the case. You know, one of the really interesting things that we have documented historical evidence of is not just what the Bible says about the flood, but you have this sort of universal flood myth that you see from all different cultures around the world. This idea of a global flood that seems to be a part of every sort of civilization, and it's actually kind of a unique thing. I think something that points to the fact that this was actually an event that happened.

This actually took place. It corroborates together with what the Bible says and supports essentially the narrative that we have in Scripture and what Jesus himself tells us. See, our faith, Daniel, is rooted in history.

That's what makes it so powerful, so unique. This isn't just, you know, a few myths that we have that we, like I said, try to glean spiritual stories for. No, it's rooted in history from the flood to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And this is why the gospel is more than just how I feel or, you know, you should believe this because it'll make you a better person, that kind of a thing.

No, we embrace this. We believe it because it's true, because it's rooted in reality. And this is precisely what the Apostle Paul said related to the resurrection in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. He said, Look, for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the twelve, and then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep or died.

You see what Paul is doing there? He's saying, Look, our faith in Jesus Christ, our faith in God's Word, is rooted in events that actually happened. Jesus actually died and rose again from the dead, and that same Jesus talks about the flood of Noah as if it actually happened, because it actually happened. And, as I said, brother, that's corroborated by the various cultures of the world around the world that recognize that this happened. And because these things happened, we can have confidence that what we believe in is true and rest in God's Word and in the promise of salvation that he gives to us in his Son. Call 1-833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this podcast. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.