The Return Part 3

1. Hayden 9-29-20

Well, the event known as “The Return” is over and this morning is a new day. Saturday was a wonderful day as Christians gathered in Washington DC and throughout the world by simulcast, praising God, repenting of sin and sharing the message that all of us need to return to God. It was a blessing. However, now we need to carry that message to others and live out the mandate of the Scriptures to walk out our salvation with our Creator. Always leaning on Him and staying faithful to the commitment of being a disciple of Christ. It says in Matthew 16:24-25 the Bible reads, “24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me]. 25 For whoever wishes to save his life [in this world] will [eventually] lose it [through death], but whoever loses his life [in this world] for My sake will find it [that is, life with Me for all eternity].” (Amplified).

The Scripture we read in the first paragraph is a serious mandate that is meant for a serious people. To be a disciple of Christ is not just a tag we put on ourselves as believers in Christ, it is a way of living that God has called us to. And for many in the Church, it is a call to return to the commitment we made when we first declared in our hearts that Jesus Christ is Lord. Throughout the history of the Church, God calls His people to come closer and to return to their First Love. After giving the believers in Christ a compliment, Revelations 2 has Jesus speaking to the Church at Ephesus and saying these words, 4 “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.” Sometimes we can get caught up in worldly things, even us “good Christians.” Often we have a tendency to walk away from God when we are drawn away by the affairs of life and forget our God. God calls us to return to Him. If this describes you, do not hesitate to call on the Name of the Lord. He has open arms for you and is ready to receive you back in His arms. Return to Him, He will in no way reject those who wish to draw close to Him.

Be blessed even more!!

Pastor Chris         

The Return

On September 26, 2020, Christian believers from all walks of life and many denominations will be descending on the Washington D.C. Mall in a historic gathering of Church leaders and followers of Christ.  This gathering will take place in our nation’s capital approximately 40 days before one of the most important elections our country has ever faced.  This election will decide the direction of our Union and could very well be a pivot point for an entirely different form of government.  Much is at stake.  So what is this gathering in D.C. all about?  Well the event is called, “The Return.”  The Return is not a reference of Christ returning, but of His people and the world returning back to Him. It is anticipated that thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands will gather to pray for our nation and the Church to “Return” back to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and our Lord Jesus Christ.  We will pray for repentance and God’s blessings on our land as we humble ourselves before Him, seek God’s face and turn from our wicked ways (2 Chronicles 7:14). 

The Return is a movement, an appointed time, and a specific day set apart for one purpose – the return to God by coming before His presence in humility, in sincerity in prayer, and repentance.  The movement begins now and will continue through the entire year of 2020 leading up to 10 Days of Vigilant Prayer – Starting with the Biblical Feast of Trumpets and ending with the Day of Atonement (September 18-September 28). The central day of The Return will be Saturday, September 26, 2020 on the National Mall and throughout the nation and world.  Here at Central Christian Church, we will be hosting a simulcast of the event live in our facility on that day.  The day will begin at 9am with speakers and prayers throughout and closing with a prayer service starting at 6pm and lasting til around 9pm.  We are inviting members of Central Christian Church along with any in our community that wish to attend.  Please join us on that day, even if only for part of the day, as we join our fellow believers and neighbors in returning to God with a renewed commitment and zeal for the salvation of the lost and unity of the Body of Christ.

Pastor Chris

An Eroding Culture (Still Eroding)

1. Hayden 4-24-16, revised 7-28-20

Last night, in a fit of prayer, I felt led to crack open an old favorite book of mine, Chuck Swindoll’s text “The Church Awakening: An Urgent Call For Renewal.” In a nation that continues to drift further and further away from the moral moorings that were considered at one time common sense, the Church is in desperate need for spiritual renewal. On the back cover of Swindoll’s book, we read this quote, “Postmodernism (there is no absolute truth or reality) began in the academic community, oozed into leadership, then morphed into Congress, public schools, and our homes. Sadly, the slumbering evangelical church has also now slid into the murky waters of a post-Christian swamp.” This is often the result of a church that, rather than seek to draw closer in a holy relationship with God, settles for a shallow, religious form having no power. A church that is more interested in being accepted, and better yet, liked by our politically correct world, escaping the persecution that Jesus said all who live Godly in Christ Jesus would suffer (2 Timothy 3:12).

Some feel that we are in the process of the great “falling away” in the church, spoken of in the Scriptures, as we see denomination after denomination buckle to the pressures of the world to accept more and more behaviors, lifestyles, and faiths as acceptable alternatives to Biblical truths held by the church for the last 20 centuries. Could this be the great falling away linked to the revealing of the anti-Christ spoken of in the Bible? In 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 we read, “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;” There has always been societies filled with eroded morality (maybe every society). But now many sectors of the church, after holding to standards of Biblical holiness and truth, are voting (and have voted) to not only affirm alternative faiths and lifestyles as acceptable to God but actually plotting to weave these changes into the church. We need to continue to pray that the church will be renewed in the Holy Spirit, be salt and light for the world, leading people to repentance and forgiveness in Christ rather than allow the world to lead the church into a politically correct social club based on good feelings rather than God’s Word. It is time for the Church to rise up, be bold in Christ, speak truth to counter the deception out to destroy our world, call the church to revival and preach repentance and faith in Jesus to a lost world.

Be blessed even more!!

Pastor Chris