In this episode, Bryce breaks down whether or not church is important.
Chapter 1: What is the focus of this episode about church attendance?
Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford Podcast. I'm Bryce, and in today's episode, we're going to be talking about should Christians go to church? What is the church? Should you be going to church? The reason I want to talk about this is because this is something I've been getting convicted on since about December of 2024.
about the local church and the importance of it is it important i was one of those people that was always like oh no it's just me and my relationship with god i don't really need the local church the local church isn't important this and the other and i went on a bachelor trip for my buddy's wedding and we were all talking about the local church and on the early church and how important it is and so
Should you go to church as a Christian? We're going to be answering that today. And before we get down into the scriptures, we're going to be in the book of Acts today, bouncing around. We're going to be hyperfixating on Acts 2 and Acts chapter 5, and then I'm going to highlight some key scriptures after that that are important.
One of my favorite things about my Greek Orthodox brothers and sisters and my Roman Catholic brothers and sisters is the importance of the church and the weight that they hold to the church.
I love how they look to the early church and go, how did the early church, how did these dudes that were around right after Jesus' death and resurrection, the disciples and the disciples of the disciples, how did these guys accept things and treat the early church? Was it important? And what is it in today's society? And, you know, Should you be going to church, local church?
Absolutely, you should. We're gonna be diving into why the local church is important. What is the church? Well, there's two definitions for the church, okay? You have the universal church and then you have the local church.
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Chapter 2: What are the definitions of the local church and the universal church?
The local church would be a physical church building with four walls and a roof where people gather regularly to worship God and love people and learn about the Lord and dive into scripture. Now, the universal church would be the body of Christ, okay? The church is the body of Christ. Christians all around the globe.
So as a born-again believer, you are a part of what is called the Universal Church, which is believers all around the globe united under one truth, worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ. And then you have the local church, four walls and a rooftop gathering to worship the Lord and learn about scripture. So the local church is important. And I'm not just talking about the Universal Church here.
I'm talking about the importance of the local church should you be attending. And I used to be one of those people that says, no, you don't really need the local church. It's all about just you and your relationship with God, and then you'll be set in stone. I'm going to be completely honest.
That mindset that I used to have was a mindset that wasn't grateful and that was overlooking the importance and weight of the local church. And so... We're going to be in Acts chapter 2 today talking about where this whole thing started. Where did the early church start? Now, I want you guys to read Acts chapter 2.
I'm not going to read the entire thing right now, but let me just give you an idea of what happened. Pentecost happens, the Holy Spirit comes, falls, tongues of fire, this, that, and the other. Then Peter, the apostle, gets up and points his bony finger at a crowd of 3,000 people, and this is what he says. He says, "'You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.'"
So he begins to release one of the most powerful gospel presentations I believe ever recorded in history. And this is the response of the 3,000 people. The 3,000 people, they go, holy smokes. We need to put our faith and trust in this guy. What do we do? And so when you read Acts 2, what happens is Peter preaches the gospel to 3,000 people. They get born again. They get baptized.
They receive the Holy Spirit, and they pray for boldness. So when you read Acts 2 up to Acts 5, you're going to see the birth of the early church. You're going to see the birth of the first Christians. This is super important. God trusted Peter with the church, the local church, the physical church. He trusted Peter with it.
Now, you know what I think is so crazy is a man, the man that denied Jesus Christ three times and claimed, oh, I'll do anything for you. Peter was like, Jesus, I'm your ride or die. Nothing's ever going to happen between me or you. Oh, I'm never going to leave you this, that, and the other. And then he denies Jesus three times before the rooster crows in the morning.
Oh, wait, Peter, aren't you that guy with Jesus Christ? No, that's not me. No, that's not me. No, that's not me. And if you read the gospels after Jesus raises from the dead, there's this thing that happens, I believe is recorded in the gospel of John, where Jesus has breakfast with Peter on the beach, essentially. And this is super intense, but he tells Peter how he's going to die.
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Chapter 3: How did the early church begin according to the book of Acts?
Now imagine you knowing when, sorry, not knowing when, imagine you knowing how you're going to die. You would be anxious probably all the time anticipating it. And so when I read that passage of after Peter had denied Jesus three times and Peter repents to Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ begins to tell Peter how he's going to die, I thought, man, that's pretty cruel.
Why would Jesus tell Peter how he was going to die? The reason Jesus told Peter how he was going to die is because he wanted to show Peter that he would endure till the end. If you guys don't know, Peter gets crucified, but he gets crucified upside down because he believed that he wasn't worthy enough to be crucified the way that the Messiah was crucified. But he shows Peter, hey, bro,
I recognize that you screwed up. Thank you for your repentance. But let me just tell you something, Peter, you're going to endure to the end. And not only, but you're going to be the rock that I found this church on. So Peter starts a church by preaching this gospel message to 3000 people. They get born again, baptized, and they pray for boldness. Now, this is how the early church is born.
Acts chapter two. And then you get up to Acts chapter five. And I believe Acts chapter 5 addresses something that is important with the church that I think a lot of people say. A lot of people go, well, Bryce, I don't want to go to church because the church is wicked. Or I hate the church. I've been hurt by the church. Or people get molested in the church.
Or people abuse people for money in the church. Or people manipulate people for selfish gain and ambition in the church. Okay, I'm not saying that those things don't happen. Those things do happen. But you also have to look at the net positive of the church. You have to look at the overall benefits and the positive of the church.
Although there are people that manipulate a church congregation for money, although there are people that manipulate the church for selfish gain and fame, although there are people in the church that abuse their power for sexual desires and things like that, we obviously see in the gospels that Jesus' heart is in total contradiction to the behavior that people manipulate the church for.
I mean, Jesus goes into the synagogue, and the one time that we witness Jesus being righteously angry is when he's flipping the money tables in the church. Why was he flipping the money tables in the church? Jesus was flipping the money tables in the church because he saw that the synagogue was taking advantage of new believers by trying to make a quick buck off of them.
The synagogue was going, oh, shoot, all these new converts, this, that, and the other. Let me make a quick buck off of them. And Jesus says, listen, you don't get to use my name to make a quick buck off of people. You're manipulating people. Jesus' character was in total opposition to people manipulating his name or God's name for money, fame, status, sexual desires.
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Chapter 4: Why was Peter chosen as the rock of the church despite his past mistakes?
He's actually in total opposition for it. And Acts chapter 5 is a prime example for it. So we see in the book of Acts, these 3,000, they sell all their belongings. They become sold out for Christ. Now, when you read Acts chapter 5, you have these people named Ananias and Sapphira. They sold everything, but they weren't honest. They lied.
They only gave away some of the money, and then they kept some of the money secretly. Now, when you read this part, this is the importance of it. Although there is wickedness and human beings are sinful and they abuse their power, they abuse their status, they abuse their position in the church sometimes. Sometimes people do that for their own glory.
There is still purity and a necessity for the local church. There is still goodness in the local church. There still is purity and an importance and a weight to it. If God didn't care about the early church, then he wouldn't have killed Ananias and Sapphira.
In Acts chapter 5, the believers are told to sell everything, and Ananias and Sapphira, they sell everything, but they don't, they aren't honest, they lie, they don't give away all the money that they sold, they kept some. And so God killed Ananias and Sapphira. Now some people say, oh my gosh, well why did God kill Ananias and Sapphira? He was catechizing the early church.
He was purifying the early church. He was making sure that the beginnings of the early church were purified, just, and holy. That's why he had to kill them off. We have to understand that any decision that God makes, he is a just God, and we have to trust that his judgment is just and righteous. So in Acts chapter 5, God doesn't care about the weakness of the church. Yes, he absolutely does.
And if God doesn't do something about it in the moment, on the day of judgment, every knee will bow, and everyone will be held accountable for every action, thought, emotion, and manipulative thing that they've done in their life. And God will do something. The Bible tells us that vengeance is the Lord's.
God cares about the local church and there is a weight placed on pastors and teachers that they will be judged more harshly, not only for their words, but for their actions. So man, the only thing I can think of is pray for our local leaders and pastors. Instead of watering seeds of condemnation on the church, why don't we pray for our leaders and pastors?
That God continue to burn on their heart, that the fire on their heart may be burned and that they may burn for the Lord Jesus Christ. And that they can continue to seek after him, seek holiness and seek righteousness. Now, when you continue to read the book of Acts, let me just tell you the importance of this stuff. You have a guy named Paul, right?
Okay, Paul in Acts chapter 13 and 14 visits Antioch, the churches of Galatia in Acts 13 and 14. That's where the churches of Galatia are formed. Then in Acts chapter 16, the church of Philippi is formed. Then in Acts chapter 18, the church of Corinth is formed. And then in Acts chapter 19, the church of Ephesus is formed. Why is this important?
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Chapter 5: What does Acts chapter 5 teach about the purity and challenges of the church?
One of the greatest things I've ever done is submit myself to a local church or pastor. Greatest things I've ever done. Because not only is someone being placed and trusted with the authority to shepherd my soul, but I have a community of believers to come around me. I mean, you guys don't even know, we have our live podcast show on May 18th.
And my local church from my hometown is supporting our event by giving us volunteers for a prayer team. That is powerful. The help, when I've been going through junk, I'm able to call my pastor, go get breakfast with my pastor. When I'm in Los Angeles, my home church in Los Angeles, the church that I'm submitted to in Los Angeles, I'm able to contact my pastor. I'm able to fellowship.
I'm able to have community. People come around me and pray for me. It's a beautiful thing. And when I reflect on my life from when I was 17, I became a Christian when I was 17, and I'm 21 now. There are people that I met when I was 17 years old that were claiming to love Jesus, that were preaching about Jesus, and I met a bunch of Christians when I was 17.
Chapter 6: How does Jesus respond to corruption and manipulation within the church?
And now that I'm 21, half of them don't even follow the Lord anymore. And I'm not saying that this is the only reason that they don't follow the Lord, but I think one of the main reasons is because they had a weak perspective of the local church. They did not... have an importance and a weight and a gravity of how important the local church was. They weren't submitted.
They didn't care about the local church. And I think that is one of the main reasons why people deconstruct and leave the faith is because they don't have a community of believers to actually work through problems and talk about these things too. I mean, the Bible is very clear. The book of Acts is all about the birth of the early church.
And not only that, when you're trying to tackle theological issues, yes, we need to look into Scripture, but we also need to look at the early church. We need to look at how they accepted things. We need to look at how they treated sacraments. We need to look at how they treated Jesus Christ.
I mean, you have to understand, the early church was so important that God killed Ananias and Sapphira to purify the church. If God didn't think that the local church was important, then it would have gone extinct.
Chapter 7: What lesson can we learn from the story of Ananias and Sapphira regarding church integrity?
Now, the unfortunate and sad reality is that there are some churches and some pastors out there that do things for selfish gain, like we said earlier, that do things for money gain, that do things for sexual desires, that manipulate their power and things like that. And that ultimately breaks my heart. And you think that doesn't break God's heart?
The manipulation of the local church that people use for their own selfish gain, their sexual desires and their money actually breaks God's heart to death. It breaks his heart. Jesus Christ didn't die for people to use his name for sexual desires in their church authoritative position. Or Jesus Christ didn't die for the fact that the church was going to use it for a money gain or money grab.
Jesus Christ died so that people could become more like him, could be united with him, so he could pay the debt of sin and that people could know the weight and the glory and love of Jesus Christ and God the Father. That's the importance of it. And without the local church, we wouldn't be able to know more about scripture, know more about community, know more about fellowship.
I mean, community is so important. That's why Paul visited Corinth, Ephesus, Antioch, Philippi, all these places and founded the early church because he recognized that in order for people to sustain their faith, they not only need the spirit of God, they not only need the word of God, but they need the local church. We need community. It's so important.
And I'm going to be honest, like, you know, praise God for live stream to church. But man, let me tell you something. If your only reason for watching a live stream church is because you don't feel like getting up in the morning and go to church, let me ask you, I pray that the conviction of the Lord may hit your heart.
And that just because you wake up and go, I don't feel like going to church, man, I pray that the Lord... put some faith to your feet and you start moving towards the church door. Because I used to be that same guy that would blow off the local church because, oh, I'm too tired. But man, we can never be too tired for the presence of God.
And the second we convince ourselves we're too tired for church is the second we think that church is about us. We don't go to church to get, we go to church to give to God. We go to church to worship God. We go to church to learn more about the father because when we learn about the father, we give more glory to him. We're not going to church just to gain, gain, gain, gain, gain.
We're going to give something to Christ. We're going to give it all to him. We're going to serve him and worship him. Learning about Christ motivates my heart to worship him. Thank you, Jesus, for the early church. Thank you, God, that we have amazing pastors and leaders in today's society that steward us and lead us into your throne room. God, thank you, Jesus, for the local church. We need it.
Man, you know, I don't want to totally turn on online church because, you know, it is a beautiful thing. When I'm on the road and when I'm traveling, sometimes I fly on Sundays. I'm able to actually stay consistent in the church series with my hometown church by watching online and things like that.
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Chapter 8: Why should Christians pray for their pastors and church leaders?
Or if I'm sick, I can watch online so I don't get my brothers and sisters in my local church physically sick either and things like that. But if our only excuse, if our excuses for watching online church is, oh, well, it's convenient or, oh, I don't really feel like going in person. Let me tell you something. There's something so powerful.
with being in a physical community in person worshiping the lord with like-minded people it's so powerful community is important i'm so grateful that we got to talk about this because man guys the church is important your local church and and plug in and serve the church isn't just about us getting we need to give We not only need to give our worship to God, we need to give our finances.
We also need to give our actions. We need to serve. We need to come around each other, man. Serve at your local church. Stack chairs. Mop the floors. One of my favorite people, to close this episode out, one of my favorite people ever in the Christian faith was a guy named Brother Lawrence. He has a book called Practicing the Presence of God. Brother Lawrence was a Christian monk in the 1600s.
He lived in a monastery off the mainland in the middle of the ocean. And listen, Brother Lawrence was so respected by world leaders around the globe that world leaders would hit up Brother Lawrence back in the 1600s, you know, whatever they did, send a pigeon to Brother Lawrence. And they would say, hey, Brother Lawrence, we respect you. We need your help making world-altering decisions.
And Brother Lawrence said this. He said, listen, guys, I want to help you, but I can't leave this monastery because I promise work before the Lord. So if you want help, you can come to me and I'll help you navigate through your world-altering decisions. while I'm doing my work before the Lord.
So world leaders, very important people back in the 1600s to travel all across the globe to come meet Brother Lawrence at the monastery because he told these people, man, my work before the Lord is so important that if you come to me, I'll be able to help you. They come here. The work before the Lord that Brother Lawrence did was just mop the floors of this monastery.
It was important to him to serve his brothers at the monastery and to serve the Lord by just simply mopping and cleaning the house of God. And so my prayer for us today is two things. Number one, God, we need to pray that God will give us a fresh conviction and a fresh heart and a fresh weight for the local church.
But number two, God, would you give us a desire to serve the way Brother Lawrence served his local brothers and sisters? God, Jesus, we thank you so much for today. God, we thank you for the church. God, we thank you that community is real and accessible and that we can gather with like-minded believers, brothers and sisters in Christ to worship you, challenge us, and work through problems in life.
God, we ask firstly for a fresh conviction and wait for the local church. Would you give us a desire to show up in person, submit ourselves to leadership in the church, submit ourselves to church authority, submit ourselves to the teachings of a shepherd, God, to help us through our soul.
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