What’s Wrong with Church Hopping?

What's wrong with church hopping? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. Hi there, 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. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts, and you can email us at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to John in Colfax, California. John, what's your question for Adriel?

Good morning, brother. So I have one from Psalm 51, verse 11, where he's talking about he's begging God not to cast him away from his presence and do not take his Holy Spirit from him. Now, my understanding is that once we get saved, the Holy Spirit is given to us and we're sealed by it, according to Ephesians 1, and it's basically irrevocable until the day of the redemption of the purchase possession, which correlates perfectly with what Jesus said, like, he'll never forsake us or leave us. So my understanding is that, but I can't reconcile that with this particular passage in Psalm 51.

Hey, John, thank you for that question. So this is David's prayer of repentance, and he says very clearly in verse 8, hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Made in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Well, a couple of things. We have to understand that the Lord has worked in diverse ways throughout redemptive history. So our relationship to God under the new covenant is different from the relationship that David had with the Lord here in Psalm 51. I'm not saying he was saved in a different way or he experienced a different Holy Spirit, but I think that we have to grapple with the promises that we find throughout the Old Testament of the new covenant and the way in which God was going to operate by his spirit in the whole church. That is not just for the kings and the prophets and the priests, but all of his covenant people filled with, sealed with the Holy Spirit. And I think what David is concerned with here is the Lord removing that gift, that calling, that grace that the Lord had given to him as a king in Israel. This is right in line with, you think of Saul of Tarsus, excuse me, Saul in the Old Testament, not the guy who became the apostle Paul, but Saul, the first king of Israel, who sinned against the Lord and who was essentially at the end of his life an apostate.

And the Spirit of God, we're told, left him. Now, I don't think that that means that the Spirit of God today, if we're sealed with the Holy Spirit, will just abandon us if we sin or that kind of a thing. And again, this is where I think understanding our relationship to the Lord under the new covenant is really important. One of the things actually that I think is really interesting about this, John, is what David is praying for here in Psalm 51 is essentially the blessings of the new covenant. Because when you turn over to the promise of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31, verse 31, it says, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, declares the Lord, I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God and they will be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. In other words, this promise of the new covenant, the work of the Holy Spirit, a brand new heart, the forgiveness of sins, that's what David is praying for in Psalm 51. And the answer is this new covenant that the Lord is bringing that we get to participate in through faith in Jesus Christ, John. And so there's no contradiction there.

Just want to follow up with you, though, John. Does that get to the heart of your question, or were you thinking of something else? Well, I've heard of something like that. It doesn't really. There was another passage in Psalm 139 where he talks about, in verse 7, where can I go from your spirit, where can I flee from your presence? It's just a little, like, you know, I know that if there's an apparent contradiction, it's got to be in my own understanding, because God is never going to contradict himself. So I hear what you're saying, and it makes sense, kind of, because I haven't really studied these old covenants and new covenant and all that, but I'm just reading it for, you know, that's face value.

Well, let me just say this, and maybe this will help to clarify further for you. The Spirit of God did come upon individuals and, you know, throughout the Bible. So again, going back to Saul, for example, in the Old Testament, the Spirit of God came upon him and he prophesied mightily. Or you think of Samson, you know, when the Spirit of the Lord would come upon him. So there were these moments where an individual would be specially blessed, filled with the Holy Spirit for a particular task, and oftentimes with the kings and the justices, this is precisely what you would see.

They would be anointed with oil at their ordination or setting apart as a sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit to fulfill this particular role. And I think that's what David is praying about. He's saying, Lord, don't take your Spirit from me in that sense. In the same way that the Spirit was taken from Saul, he's crying out to God, asking for his mercy, asking for his forgiveness, but I don't think that we have to take from that that we, as believers in Jesus Christ under the New Covenant, can be abandoned or left by the Spirit of the True and the Living God. Because just like you say, John, we're sealed with the Holy Spirit. That's what the Apostle Paul said in the book of Ephesians.

And that's not something that we can have and then lose and then get back again, this sort of back and forth thing. No, the Spirit of God lives in us, dwells in us in a way that's special, in a way that's unique. And so appreciate your question, brother, and thank you for giving us a call and for that follow-up.

Love the fact that John is really digging into God's Word, both the Old and the New Testament, trying to reconcile those things, which can be a challenge at times. You know, absolutely. And the question, right, this question in particular of, is the Lord going to leave me? Am I going to do something that's going to cause the Holy Spirit to abandon me?

It's really practical. I mean, this isn't just like, hey, let's, you know, talk about this and it doesn't affect us at all. There are a lot of believers who, that's their greatest fear. And so it's important that we search the scriptures and come to a proper understanding so that we can deal with those fears. You're listening to Core Christianity.

And if you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, theology, Christian doctrine, or even how your daily faith walk intersects with today's culture, we'd love to hear from you. Here's the phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

You might want to make a note of that, 833-THE-CORE, 1-833-843-2673. Now this coming weekend is Halloween. And it seems like every year around this time, we'd start getting those calls about demons and the devil. And some people have some maybe erroneous ideas about the devil's influence on our lives. Yeah, a lot of people, I think, have erroneous ideas about the devil inside the church, outside of the church. And the problem is I think our theology on this is shaped not so much by scripture, but maybe by what we see in media or just these assumptions that we have as Christians.

And so it's really important for us to come to, as we've been talking already, a proper biblical understanding of so many things. And this is one of them, spiritual warfare. And that's why we've made this new resource, Can the Devil Read My Mind? It's a 70-page booklet that gives you a thorough understanding of what the Bible says about Satan, demons, and spiritual warfare. And it's a booklet that can be yours for free over at corechristianity.com. Now the booklet also has some really practical guides on how we can protect ourselves from the devil's influence in our lives. Absolutely.

Yeah. I mean, that's one of the things that I think is the most helpful about it is just some of those practical step-by-step encouragements for what it looks like for us to resist the devil and to be wise, discerning as we think about these things. And again, it's free. You can go to our website at corechristianity.com forward slash offers to learn more. Just look for Can the Devil Read My Mind?

And just to spoil it. No, we can't. So check that out at our website or give us a call for that resource. Well, we want to go to a voicemail we received from one of our listeners in the United Kingdom with an interesting question. Hello, my name is Jaz. I just got a question about being sort of committed to church and being a member of a church. Everything is saying that you should be a member of one church and not, you know, sort of hop around churches and stuff.

But I just don't really get why. I've always felt one particular church on Sunday. But then I also joined like Bible studies from different churches. I will visit other churches. I'm still involved online with my older churches where I live before. The way I've seen it is that we're all a big church family. And like, I don't want to be like, Oh, this is it. This is my church.

This is my exclusive club. And to me, family's not like that. To me, family's like, yeah, okay. Like you spend more time with your closer family.

But, you know, you still see your aunties and your uncles and you still talk to, you know, your granddad that lives in Australia sort of thing. And yeah, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. And yeah, thank you so much for this show. It's just such a blessing.

I listen to it like, yeah, before I go to bed and just like during the day and whatever. And yeah, it's a real help. So yeah, may God bless you and your ministry.

Thanks. Hey, Jazz, God bless you as well. I love this question as the pastor of a local church who is often telling people like, hey, be committed to the church wherever you are. You know, we frequently talk about the importance of being in a local church in, you know, when I talk to the people in my own congregation, I encourage them to be committed, right, to the church that you're a part of where you're at. But your question, I love the way you put it just in terms of the family analogy, Jazz, because there's nothing wrong with having friends, other believers outside of your local church that you fellowship with, that you hang out with, that you learn from. And you can encourage one another. I certainly have friends outside of the church and other brothers and sisters who, you know, were able to encourage each other. But primarily, I think if you're in a church, being committed to the things that are happening there and participating in the life of the body is so important. And let me just give you a couple of passages.

You asked why, so let me give you some of the reasons why. There's this text in the book of Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 13 verse 17, and it says, obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls. As those who will have to give an account, let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. In other words, in the New Testament, there is this assumption that believers are a part of local worshiping communities, bodies, local churches, where there are elders, deacons. Paul talks about this in 1 Timothy 3, in Titus chapter 1. And in particular, the elders are charged with keeping watch over your soul. Now, not every Christian is under the charge of a particular group of elders. It's just that the Christians that are there in that local church, that they're going to have to give an account for.

And I like to ask Christians, believers, this question, who is it that is keeping watch over your soul? Who are the elders in your church, the people who are there, caring for you, encouraging you? And if we're not really tied together to the local church, if we're not doing life in the local church, it makes it really hard for the leadership there to really care for us spiritually, like they're supposed to.

And so I would say that's one reason. That doesn't mean that we don't have friendships, relationships outside of the local body, that we don't participate in stuff outside of the local church. But just in terms of helping the leadership of the church care for your soul, I think it's really important that you're invested there, that you're a part of the life of the body there, that people know you. You think about the discussion that the Apostle Paul has in 1 Corinthians 12 about how each of us are gifted in different ways. Jazz, God has given you specific gifts for the body of Christ that you get to use in the context of the local church, through relationships, through friendships, through fellowship.

And other people have gifts that they get to use as well for your building up. And together as we come together, as we're committed to one another, that's when you see healthy churches thriving. But if each of us are just kind of doing our own thing, you know, I go here on Sunday sometimes, then I'll check out another church over there, and then I'm a part of all these different groups, then the question is, who's really entrusted with your spiritual oversight?

Sounds like you're just doing it by yourself. And I remember there have been times in my life, and sorry to go on and on about this, but where early, especially my walk with the Lord, you know, I had all these Christian friends and relationships, go to a Bible study over here, church over there sometimes, and then maybe a different church. And I got to the point where I just asked myself, you know, who is really keeping watch over my soul?

Yeah, I got a couple friends who, you know, we can have good conversations with, but they're just like me. They struggle with the same things I struggle with, so there's no really real spiritual oversight there. And so the main reason I think it's important for us to be committed to a local church under the oversight of the leadership there is for our souls. So for getting proper care, and again, that doesn't mean it needs to be weird and you don't have friendships, relationships outside a local church.

No, do that. Get as much encouragement as you can, but certainly be committed to a local body that is faithful to preaching the gospel and where you're going to be encouraged and cared for like the New Testament talks about. Some great advice. And thanks, Jazz, for that great question.

We appreciate that. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to Tim in Lincoln, Nebraska. Tim, what's your question? Oh, thank you so much for taking my call. I called you before.

You're probably getting to know me now. But anyway, where in the Bible does it talk about infeminence, where a girl wants to turn into a boy or a boy into a girl? And it's really affected my family, which is rough because I love the Lord Jesus with all my heart and I'm concerned about a family member.

Yeah. Well, I mean, part of this is just we're talking about biblical sexuality, the doctrine of man here and how God created us, what our identity is rooted in. And it seems like today in our culture, Al, or excuse me, Tim, there are many people who want to root the core of our identity in our sexuality and particularly in how we feel.

And so I'm attracted to this sex or I feel like my gender doesn't match my biological sex, that kind of a thing. So there really has been a shift, especially in recent years in terms of understanding the people's understanding of human identity. And so I think this is bigger than just one Bible verse, Tim. I think it really is looking at what it means to be made in the image of God and the core of our identity as creatures made by the true and the living God, as God's creation that he loves and cares for and calls to live in a certain way. And so when the Bible talks about sex, gender, you think about God creating Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden there to compliment one another, to love one another. And we've just really twisted that in society today. Now, I know that there's so much of the issue is I think just we're inundated with these things that we're hearing in social media from the culture, just you need to embrace these ideas. Otherwise, you're hateful or something like that.

Well, no, that's not the case necessarily. We actually have to stick to what the scriptures say here and speak the truth in love. And so I think, I don't know entirely what the situation is with your family member. It sounds like getting some pastoral care. Bill, just even in terms of the sort of psychological stuff that's going on, what would you add there? Well, one of the big concerns right now is if you go to a secular psychologist, they'll embrace your gender identity. And of course, it doesn't fit with the research. It's more the political views of, let's say, the American Psychological Association, which I have some big concerns about myself. So yes, pastoral counselor or a Christian therapist who is basing their advice on God's truth and scientific truth, not on some political beliefs or some agenda. So I think that's really key. Yeah. And maybe just getting back to the basics of what the Bible says about human identity and sexuality.

It's not going to be popular in today's culture, but having those kinds of conversations. And actually, I think that the beautiful thing about this is being able to say, look, you're a lot more than your feelings. You were made in the image of God and sin entered the world. And because of sin, we're broken.

We experience brokenness and we have these disordered feelings, disordered desires, these psychological effects. But there is a God who is gracious toward sinners and we can go to him, we can confess these things, we can get encouragement help, hopefully in the life of the body of Christ, but maybe as you even said, Bill, a Christian therapist or counselor, to walk alongside of people who are going through some of these struggles, I think is so important. So thank you for that question, Tim. May the Lord be with you and give you wisdom in this situation. Big issue we've talked about many times, there is a God and you ain't it.

Yeah, you don't get to, yeah, you're absolutely right. I mean, that's part of the problem I think a lot of times today is we want to reject what God has said and embrace our own sort of rules when it comes to mankind's humanity. Paul talks about that in places like Romans chapter one. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

Let's go to Al in Fort Worth or Fort Wayne, Indiana. Al, what's your question for Adriel? Yes, my question is about the Mormon Jesus. Do Mormons worship the same Jesus that we worship and can the Mormon Jesus remove sin, forgive sin?

Hey Al, thank you for that question. I do not believe that the Mormon Jesus as he's described in Mormon doctrine is the Jesus of the Bible. So I think if somebody's putting their trust in that Jesus, there's an issue. Paul, the apostle, talked about this. I mean, he said that one of Satan's tricks is going to be confusing people about the identity of Jesus, you know, coming as an angel of light. This is what the apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 11.

He's writing to the Corinthians and he says, I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness, do bear with me, for I feel divine jealousy for you since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus and the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. In other words, he's saying, look, I'm concerned for you, Corinthians, somebody's going to come along and preach a different Jesus, one that we did not preach, one that we didn't deliver to you in our gospel proclamation. And if you put up with that, if you embrace it, you know, you're not going to be receiving the spirit of the true and the living God, you're receiving a different spirit.

Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. He's not showing up wanting you to just reject everything that's good and true and beautiful about Christianity. He'll, you know, dress it up a little bit, you know, let's accept some of the morality, some of these family values, those things, but confuse them about who Jesus Christ is. And I think that the Mormon Church is confused about who Jesus is and about his church. You know, it's interesting when Mormonism started, it was all about basically saying, look, all the churches around right now are false, they're apostate. We are recovering the gospel of Jesus Christ. So they set themselves against the church landscape saying, look, we are the true revelation of who Jesus is. Nowadays, it seems like they've changed their tune, like they're trying to be more and more, you know, accepted.

It's just, you know, we want to feed at the table. We're Christians just like you are, that kind of a thing. So there's been, I think, a shift in terms of the way that they try to do apologetics and get people to join their church.

And it's deceptive because they'll oftentimes use, Al, the exact same terms that we use. They'll talk about Jesus, grace, the Heavenly Father. But when you get into the important, you know, points of Mormon doctrine, they define each of those things differently than the church has historically. They reject the doctrine of the Trinity. They reject the doctrine of the incarnation as it was articulated by, as it is articulated by the scripture and by many faithful Christians throughout the history of the church. They have, I think, an incorrect understanding of the gospel, justification by faith alone in Jesus Christ.

So there are all of these things where they use the same language. And that's what makes this so hard for a lot of people to really see through it. But we have to be, we have to be discerning. This is why it's so important, brothers and sisters, that we know the word, that you understand the scriptures, because as Paul says, Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. He doesn't just deny the scripture.

He takes it and he twists it. And so it's up to us to be in faithful churches where the word of God is taught well, where we're hearing it, where we're encouraged, where we're growing in our understanding of the scripture so that we can see through the lies that are out there and confront them with the truth. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.