My good friend Chuck Colson was once lamenting the condition of the church in America,

and he quoted to have said, we have scandalously low view of the church.

We have been so suckered in by radical individualism of American culture that we have stripped

the church of its proper role.

He goes on to say, but God created the church for redemption of humankind to be a witness

for his kingdom.

He said, despite the fact that 81% of American people say that they can find truth about God without reference to the church, I now believe

that you cannot live the Christian life without the church. In the last 40 years in America, there has been

a movement that is creating a church of various people's own conception, a church that they like, a church

that they want, a church that is accommodating to their whims

and to their desires. Consequently, we have got very few biblically New Testament churches

left in America. There are very few.

And we are surprised why we have lost our influence on culture, why we have lost our influence in society as Christians.

And here's the truth.

Why are we seeing this in an accelerated fashion?

But as long as there has been a church, there's always people who have brought in

erroneous teaching about the church. For example, Victor Hugo said that the church is God

between four walls. Others have taught that the church is basically a prestigious social club.

And yet, of the more than 110 times in the New Testament, the word church is used.

Never once did they use it for a building.

Never once they used it for an institution or a denomination or an organization.

Not once.

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