Should I Go Back to a Church Where I’ve Been Hurt?

Should I go back to a church where I've been hurt? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, 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. We would love to hear from you, and our phone lines are open right now. Here's the phone number. It's 833-841. 843-2673.

That's 833-THE-CORE. Now, you can always post your question on one of our social media sites. You can watch Adriel live in the studio right now on our YouTube channel, and you can message us your question through YouTube, and you can always email us any questions at questionsatcorechristianity.com.

First up today, here's a voicemail from one of our listeners named Veronica. I want to be a believer, but I just don't know because it's hard to believe in something you cannot see, and I want to believe in God, but I just need to know who to talk to about this issue that I'm having. I'm very, very afraid of death because I'm afraid there's nothing after this life, and I would really like to learn more if somebody could guide me to the right direction to get my questions answered, like who to talk to and stuff. Thank you so much.

God bless you. Thank you for giving us a call, Veronica, and just for your openness and your willingness to learn. I do think it's important for you to get plugged in with a good church around your area where you can go and maybe spend some time with the pastor.

Ask the questions that you have, the questions that are on your heart. I'm obviously happy to respond to the questions that you've asked, but you need people around you in your life who you can also go to and have conversations with. You want to believe, but you're struggling because I can't see God. I've never seen Jesus.

I've never had a vision. Jesus, at one occasion in the Gospels, after he appeared to his disciples, once he had been resurrected from the dead, we read in John chapter 20 verse 26, eight days later his disciples were inside again. And Thomas was with them, although the doors were locked. And Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here and see my hands, and put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.

Thomas answered Jesus, My Lord and my God. And Jesus said to him, Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

That's us, Veronica. We don't get to see Jesus right now. Jesus ascended into heaven after his resurrection from the dead. We have the record, the testimony of the apostles and eyewitnesses in scripture, in the New Testament, and we take what they proclaimed, what they preached, and we receive that by faith. Now, I wouldn't call that a blind faith. I think there are a lot of good reasons to believe that Jesus is who he said he was and did what he said he would do. And there are a number of resources that you can look at, even over at our website, corechristianity.com, related to the resurrection of the dead, just proofs, if you will, evidences for us to look at and say, Wow, this really does make sense.

We can't embrace this by faith. But I would just say, you know, it is coming to God and saying, Okay, here's what God has said in his word. He has taught that we're all sinners, that we need his grace, we need mercy, and that he's provided a way for us to experience that grace in his son, Jesus, the one who was speaking to Thomas there. And the question for each of us that we have to ask ourselves is, Who do I say Jesus is? Do I think he was just a great teacher, a moral leader, a spiritual guru? Or do I accept his own testimony about himself that he is the Lord, Christ, the Son of God, the one who came to take away our sins? That's who Jesus is. He's God himself come to redeem us, to save us so that we don't have to be gripped by the fear of death or condemned because of our sins. You're not alone in your fear of death.

Death, the Bible says, is the great enemy of humanity, the last enemy to be destroyed. According to the Apostle Paul in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Jesus came to deal with sin and death so that those who are suffering under the fear of death, those who are suffering in bondage to sin could have freedom so that you, Veronica, could have freedom. And so I would say right now, even right now, pray to God, go to him and say, God, I'm struggling. I know I can't see you, but I want that hope that you give. I want the assurance, the knowledge that there's hope beyond this life, hope beyond the grave, and I want forgiveness for all of my sins. When you go to God in that way, even if you don't understand everything, he hears your prayer, and that prayer of faith, coming to God, asking God for his mercy and for that hope that Jesus gives is a prayer that he will answer.

And so, Veronica, one other encouragement for you. I said get plugged into a good church. I want to encourage you to read through the Gospel of John.

If you don't have a Bible, get a hold of a Bible and spend some time reading through the Gospel of John and getting to know who Jesus is. The Bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ, and as you hear God's word, I believe that God is going to work faith in your heart. And so God bless you and thank you for giving us a call. Veronica, thanks so much for listening to Core Christianity. You know, Adriel, it's so beautiful when people call and they say, I really want to believe.

How do I do it? How do I have faith? And that's just that genuine call of, I think there's so many people right now who are searching for truth, they're searching for answers, and they're not finding it in the places they thought they would find it.

Yeah, no, absolutely, Bill. And there are so many different voices that we're hearing all around us. That's why we need to go to the sure word of God where he has spoken to us so clearly. And as I said to Veronica and to everyone who's listening right now, faith comes through the word and by the work of the Holy Spirit. And so if you want to grow in your faith, you need to grow in your understanding of God's word.

Amen. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Our phone lines are open. If you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, or like Veronica, if you're a person who maybe is struggling with doubts or maybe you consider yourself to be an agnostic or an atheist, we're open to your calls as well. Give us a buzz. Here's the number. We'll be taking calls for the next 20 minutes or so. 1-833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. We have one of our excellent Bible studies we want to offer you today, and it's actually on a book of the Bible that trips up a lot of people because there's just a lot to unpack in it. Yeah, we're offering our study on the book of Revelation, just a wonderful resource written actually by a professor that I had in seminary named Dennis Johnson, just a godly man, a brilliant man, and someone who has really spent a lot of time studying the book of Revelation.

So this is just a great resource for you. We're offering it over at corechristianity.com for a gift of $20 or more. And by the way, this is one of those studies that you could do on your own if you wanted, or it would be great for a group to go through together that's interested in studying the book of Revelation.

We actually have a discount available too if you buy several for your church or your group, your Sunday school class. So if you want to check that out, just go to corechristianity.com forward slash revelation. Again, corechristianity.com forward slash revelation for that Revelation Bible study. Well, we do get voicemails here at Core Christianity, and here's one we received from one of our listeners named Sharon.

Yes, hi, Pastor Adriel. I have a question about if you have served on a church for a long period of time, and you were told to step down from your position, and it kind of gave you a bad taste in your mouth about the church. I'm having that problem now as I'm wanting to return back to this church after the pandemic, and my husband really doesn't want to. So is there anything that I can do besides sort of praying that we will find a church family again that will be accepting of us? Anyway, just your thoughts. Thanks.

Yeah, Sharon. Well, I'm sorry to hear about the conflict in church, and I don't know what the situation specifically is, why they asked you to step down. I would say if it's something where maybe there was just a disagreement related to how to do things, I think it's important for us to be clear and honest with each other. And so I would say the only way forward in this context if you want to have a good experience there in that church is just being honest and saying, hey, this is how I was made to feel based on you guys asking me to step down, and maybe they were right, maybe they weren't right. I don't know what the situation is, but I think what you don't want to do is be there and then just sort of be growing in bitterness and frustration because they asked you to step down. You step down, you're there, and you're just frustrated with the leadership. You want to have an open and honest conversation with the leadership there. And hopefully that's something that you guys can work through and God can bring peace.

I do know that that's possible, obviously. Jesus calls us when we have something against a brother or sister to go to them to make peace, to be reconciled. This is one of the great implications of the Gospel for us as believers. God reaching down to those who had sinned against him, his own enemies, and reconciling us to himself through the blood of his son Jesus. If God could do that for us, if he could bring peace in that way for us, then we ought to pursue peace with each other, especially within the body of Christ. Now again, because I don't know your situation entirely, all the details, it's tough for me to speak to it. But I would just say, and I think this is important for all of us, let's have those transparent, honest conversations with the people that we're worshipping side by side with in the local church.

It's so important. You don't want to be in a situation where you're trying to grow in Christ and your understanding of God's word, but you have things against the very people that you're worshipping with or the leadership in your church. And so I would say talk with them and pray that it's something that the Lord brings peace and grace in.

And hopefully, you know, your relationship with the leadership there, your husband's relationship with them as well, will be better, stronger even than it was before. God bless. Some great counsel. Thank you for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to Margaret calling in from Tennessee. Margaret, what is your question for Pastor Adriel? My question is, if you know a person is practicing homosexuality and they have professed to the world that they moved in with their partner, would you allow them on your pulpit to preach the word of God?

Hi, Margaret. No, I would not. I would think that that person, I mean, based on the teaching of the Spirit, I don't even have to say I would think. That person is not qualified to be a pastor, to be a preacher of God's word. Paul gives the qualifications very clearly in 1 Timothy 3 and in Titus chapter 1.

And I would say that this individual doesn't meet several of the qualifications. We have to be really, really careful with who we put in front of us to preach for all sorts of reasons. And this is why, you know, you have those qualifications that are given there in the pastoral epistles.

But quite simply, the answer would be no. I mean, when Paul writes to the Corinthians, also in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, and he goes through this whole vice list of the kinds of sins that the Corinthians were engaged in prior to their conversion. Among those sins, he mentions practicing homosexuality, being in these same sex relationships and saying, this is no big deal.

This is who we are and what we do. And Paul says, no, such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified. That's not who you are anymore, Paul says. You're not to identify with that anymore. And so an individual who continues to say, oh yeah, I'm gay and I'm practicing homosexual, but I'm still going to preach the word of God and God doesn't care about it.

There's a huge contradiction there. And that individual would not be qualified to serve as a minister of the gospel. We actually have a great core guide on this issue because there's so much controversy about homosexuality in our culture and even within the Christian church. It's called 10 things you need to know about the Bible and homosexuality. You can find it by going to corechristianity.com forward slash guides.

Look for 10 things you need to know about the Bible and homosexuality. Well, our phone lines are open. If you have a question for Adriel about the Bible or the Christian life doctrine theology, we're open to pretty much anything. Here's the phone number. 833 the core. That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Sherry calling in from California. Sherry, thank you for your call. And what's your question?

Yes, thank you for having me. I have a question. Do you believe that a believer today could be directly attacked by the enemy or oppressed as Paul did with the thorn in the flesh as a result of the will of God, the direct will of God? And what would you recommend a believer do if, after receiving prayer and fasting and praying, that demonic force has not left?

Yeah, Sherry, thank you for that question. Well, the text you're referring to, 2 Corinthians 12 verse 7, where Paul talks about this thorn in the flesh that he had, which God used in order to humble him. And there's debate about what exactly that was. Was this spiritual oppression? Was this some kind of sickness?

Was this disease? Whatever it was, it was something that God used in his life to keep him from growing arrogant and boastful. And God has all sorts of tools in his toolbox for us to keep us from growing arrogant and boastful as well. Could God use the evil one, spiritual attack, to humble someone? Well, I think that is something that you see throughout Scripture.

You also see it in instances of discipline. You think about what Paul says to the Corinthians when he's encouraging them to exercise church discipline on the individual who's in an illicit relationship with a family member. Paul says, deliver such a one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his soul may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. In other words, hand that guy over to Satan so that he can experience the pain and the struggle of that spiritual attack so that he would come to repentance. The goal is not punitive, just to punish an individual. The goal would be to bring that individual to repentance.

Now, in terms of, you know, I don't know specifically what it is that you're experiencing. Sometimes it can be spiritual warfare, sometimes it can just be the result of the fall and the corruption that's just inside of us. I would say, you know, we're encouraged in Scripture to resist the evil one and he will flee. And so we're to make a stand against the devil.

And how do we do that? We do that through prayer, as you said, and fixing our eyes on the truth of the gospel. We do that with Scripture. You think of Jesus's own temptation in the gospels. The evil one came to him twisting the word of God, seeking to tempt Jesus, to get Jesus to worship Satan, to turn away from the word of God. And Jesus met the temptation of the devil with the truth of Scripture. And so I would say the way we do that battle is, like you said, through prayer, but also, Sherri, through rightly understanding God's word, the truth of the gospel, who God is, what God calls us to. And when we're tempted, or when the evil one comes with his lies, we're able to meet those lies with the truth of Scripture. So my question for you would be then, are those things that are happening, are you being confronted with these lies, with things that aren't true about God, things that are trying to lead you astray? If that's the case, then you respond with the word of God. Do you want to share a little bit more, Sherri, in terms of what's going on?

Yeah, it's a direct physical assault. So it's not, and there is no blatant sin that I know of, and I've repented to make certain or search myself. So it's physical oppression and prayer, and it has been received from various ministers and over the house and fasting, and I've read the word and even read Scripture over myself.

I mean, all of it, all of it. Well, let me pray for you right now and share one more passage of Scripture. Lord Jesus, you are good, and God, we come to you right now and we lift our sister Sherri up to you, and we pray for your divine protection in her life. We pray, Lord, that whatever it is that she's going through, whatever experience she's having, Lord, that if it is demonic oppression, we ask Lord Jesus that you would drive the evil one away, that you would give her a sense of your presence, the presence of your Holy Spirit, and Jesus, that you would give her your peace, maybe in a way that she hasn't experienced in a long time, that you would give her your peace. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you have conquered the evil one through your life, death, and resurrection, that he is powerless against your people, and I pray that you would fill my sister with that knowledge and grant her your deliverance. Father, do this for us, we pray, in the name of your son, Jesus.

Amen. The passage of Scripture I wanted to read is what John says in 1 John 5, verse 18. We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are from God and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one, but Sherri, if you belong to Jesus, you do not lie in the power of the evil one anymore. He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world, and so may Christ himself grant you his peace, his presence, his protection. God bless. Thank you for your call, Sherri.

We'll continue to pray for you and your situation. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez. Just a reminder, we have that wonderful Bible study on the book of Revelation available today.

This is something you could study on your own or with a small group or Sunday school class at your church, and you can find more information on that by going to corechristianity.com forward slash revelation. Let's go to Jason, who's calling in from Missouri. Jason, what's your question for Pastor Adrian?

Yes, can you hear me okay? Hey, Jason, I can hear you. Okay, so I'm a believer, and I spent a lot of time in the Bible, but I struggle with alcohol. And I've, you know, I've been told you can't quit on your own. That's something that God's got to take from you.

But I feel like I'm a hundred percent on my own, you know? So I'm just wondering what I'm missing, if my faith's just not strong enough or... Well, Jason, the first thing I want to say to you is that you aren't on your own. And I do think it is important for you to have people around you who can hold you accountable, both in the church. You need to be in a good church if you're not in a good church. And even beyond that, with addiction and alcohol addiction, you know, having a support group, something like AA can be really, really helpful.

But there needs to be that openness, that transparency. I think that's one of the ways that God so often puts to death those sinful struggles that we still have, you know, an enslavement to something like alcohol. I think it's being honest, it's confessing it, even like you're doing right now, and then getting the support and the help that you need.

And so if you don't have people in your life, you need that. You need to be in a good church, and you need to be getting encouragement there. And I just want to also encourage you with Scripture. In Romans chapter 7, the apostle Paul talks about that struggle that we have as believers. He says in verse 13, Did that which is good, speaking of God's law, bring death to me?

No. It was sin producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but the very thing I hate I do. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it's good, so now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh. I have the desire to do what is right, Paul says.

It sounds like you could say that same thing, Jason. I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good that I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. And he goes on to say in verse 24, Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Who will deliver us, Jason?

Who will deliver you from this body of death? Paul says, Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself serve the law of sin with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Jason, get the accountability that you need in the church, maybe in support groups, but also get the hope that's yours in the gospel, knowing that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus if you've confessed your sins to him. 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.