Should Christians Go To Church? (EP 95)

episode

The Bryce Crawford Podcast 19 min 1 speaker 8 chapters transcribed

▲ 0

Transcript

jump: chapters · find in transcript

Transcript

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

What is the focus of this episode about church attendance?

0:41

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

1:21

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?

2:09

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.

What are the definitions of the local church and the universal church?

2:19

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.

2:54

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.'"