Last Days Church 1

Today on Truth Matters with medical doctor Cheryl Davis, she examines reasons why the end-time church is suffering a lack of vitality, effectiveness, and drifting aimlessly from its true love. Ephesians 5 25 says that Christ loved the church and gave himself for the church. But how does the church love Christ today?

Here's Dr. Davis on Part 1 of The Last Days Church. In the last days, I am compelled by the Lord to say the church is losing its effectiveness. When I say the church, I mean the bride of Christ in America is losing its effectiveness. In a recent survey published on CNN April 13, 2019, in the U.S. no religion is in a statistical tie with evangelicals and Catholics. Of those in the U.S. that consider themselves Christians, only about 18% in 2002 said they attend church regularly.

That is down from 20.5% in 1995. Regarding church growth, the Assemblies of God report church growth over the last number of years, largely due to worldwide growth. Specifically, the Southern Baptist Convention, which has a more mature data set, reported in 2016 that the number of churches grew by 479, a 1% increase over 2015.

The number of churches in the Southern Baptist Convention has increased over the last 18 years. Although the number of churches grew, membership declined by 0.51%, which is 77,786 people. Baptisms declined by 4.89%. The Southern Baptist Convention is currently at its lowest number of baptisms since 1946 and the lowest membership since 1990. The Southern Baptist Convention has lost 1 million people since 2003. LifeWay president and CEO Tom Rainer said it this way, It's clear that evangelism and discipleship are waning. I don't believe it is due to the lack of opportunities, though.

Instead, it is a lack of engagement. The Southern Baptist Convention president opened the convention almost two years ago with the need for a spiritual awakening. The most alarming thing overall is that at the turn of the 20th century in 1900, there were 27 churches per 10,000 people in the US. In 2000, there are now 11 churches per 10,000 people.

So you might ask the question, why the decline? It is not a reflection of Christ. It is a reflection of the church. The church has a heart problem.

It has an inner problem. Ephesians 5 25 says that Christ loved the church and gave himself for the church. But how does the church love Christ today? Paul describes these times in his letter in 2 Timothy when he describes the last days. But before I go on, I do want to acknowledge that no more prophecies need to be fulfilled before the second coming of Christ. We are living in the last days. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3 1-5, This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truths breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, needy, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, denying the power thereof from such turn away. What kind of power do I mean? The Greek word dunamis is used 120 times in the New Testament. It means strength, power, or ability. From dunamis we get our English words dynamite or dynamic.

Dunamis refers to inherent power, power resigning in a thing by virtue of its nature, or by which a person or thing exerts and puts forth. We find this power many times in the New Testament. In Matthew 22 29, Jesus tells the Sadducees, You are in error because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God. Matthew 24 and 30, Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven.

And then all the people of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on clouds of heaven with power and great glory. This has been Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis, where truth always matters. On our next edition of The Last Days Church, she'll share more on why the modern church has lost much of the power the Holy Spirit gave her at Pentecost. If you'd like to contact Dr. Davis, you can email her at CherylDavis at TruthProjectMatters.com If you would like to contact Dr. Davis and Truth Matters, you can reach her by email at CherylDavis at ProjectTruthMatters.com or by mail at P.O. Box 159, St. Paul's, North Carolina, 28384. Truth Matters is a production of The Truth Project.