"How Has Following The Christian Church Become So Complicated?" By: Dr. Shuffel P. Hepburn

How has following the Christian Church

become so

complicated? The Christian church was

introduced at a simple dinner service

called The Last Supper, in which prayers

were prayed, songs of worship sung, there

was a breaking of bread and of course

the word of God was richly

present. The service was held in an upper

room called the cenacle or simply called

the upper room. Now how we have gone

from

the simplicity of this service to the

complicated mass of denominations today

is a

mystery. People are now confused about

which church is the real Church of God

in Christ. New converts are unsure about

which denomination is safe for them to

join and some have decided to go to no

church at all because of the

confusion. God's word that says my people

perish for a lack of knowledge should be

ringing in the ears of all

believers. Let us review the events of

this meeting held to introduce the one

true Church of God and what followed

after to see how we got to where we are

today. The word cenacle simply means

dining

room. It was located just outside

Jerusalem City walls at Mount Zion and

it is today one of the holiest sites in

the holy land, and is also assumed to be

the place where the Holy Spirit came

upon upon the followers of Christ giving

them great

power. King David's tomb is said to be

located on the ground floor of the

building. The sight of this meeting has

passed through many hands during the

centuries. It was destroyed and rebuilt a

number of times and it was burned down

twice by the Muslims, then turned into a

mosque. Thankfully for the last 200 years

it has been in the hands of the true

owners, the Israeli people. Today it is

maintained by the Israeli Ministry of

interior and some Christian churches are

even allowed to have services there at

various times of the year. Father we

thank you for this message. Send it forth.

Give enlightenment to the unlearned, the

untaught, we pray in the holy and the

wonderful name of Jesus. And to those of

us who are seasoned, bless us with an

understanding of your word Father we

pray in Jesus name,

amen. There were 13 members in

attendance

at the Last Supper including the Master,

but only 12 remained for the entire

meeting one of the members called Judas,

who was a traitor left early to meet

secretly with the enemies of Christ, in

hopes of destroying His plan to save

mankind from sin. But the changes that

the sight of the upper room has gone

through over the Millennia are

indicative of the torturous changes that

the Christian church has gone through

since the time of this high level

meeting. During the many years that

followed, Satan has relentlessly tried to

eradicate the one true Church of

God. After Christ ascended into heaven,

His followers waited in the upper room

for the Holy Spirit who arrived 10 days

after He ascended to the Father. The

Spirit of the Living God's arrival was a

most dramatic and even earth shattering

event.

Jesus Christ claimed that He was the Son

of God and that He was God caused Him to

run a foul of the political leaders of

the day, namely the Sadducees and the

Pharisees. The last supper was purposely

set at the time of the Passover feast

and this means that they must have eaten

the Passover meal in accordance with

Jewish customs. It is very likely

therefore that the menu was lamb, fish,

beans, olives, bitter herbs, dates,

unleavened bread and wine. The songs

sung

were the traditional Passover songs

called the Hallel, which included Psalms

113 to 118.

The purpose of the meeting was to

announce a new Covenant between God

and

man, paving the way for freeing man from

the bondage of

sin. This Covenant was far simpler than

the Covenant God made with His children

through

Moses. Several other things that took

place at the meeting were very

significant. One was a ceremonial act

called the breaking of the bread, a

ceremony which would become popular

throughout the entire world, and

followers of Christ would practice it

consistently for thousands of years. And

they still practice this simple ceremony

today as instructed. And it is usually a

Spirit-filled and even emotional time of

the service for many as they reflect on

the sacrifice, the one who died for us,

made for

us. When Christ first offered His body

and blood as spiritual food for His

followers many stopped following Him. But

at the Last Supper again He offered the

wine and bread symbolically and said

take, eat, this is my body which is broken

for you. This do in remembrance of Me.

When He offered the wine He told them

that this was the new testament in His

blood, again encouraging them to do it

often in remembrance of

Him. They simply ate the bread in faith

and drank the wine in faith, trusting His

word. The next event was a washing of the

Apostles feet by the Lord and He told

them that they should wash each other's

feet. In performing this exercise He was

encouraging them to serve each other and

to serve His sheep, instead of seeking to

be served. And yet in today's churches

many disciples of Christ continue

seeking to be served and to be a figure

of great honor before the flock of Jesus

Christ. Of course the word of God was

shared with them directly from the mouth

of God through Christ

Himself. And the words spoken by the Lord

at the meeting, at the service, have been

recorded and passed down to us. And the

only missing element in this very simple

service was the full presence of

the Holy Spirit who would come shortly

after the Lord departed from the

earth. The question is how have we gone

from this simple series of events which

though dramatic and unusual in various

ways was not so complicated. And now we

have gone to having thousands and

thousands of separated denominations,

each having their own personal brand of

worship and

doctrine. In many instances items have

been added to their services, which have

nothing to do with the first meeting

established by the Lord Jesus

Christ. And some of these churches have

become exclusive, when in fact Christ was

inclusive, sending His word out to the

entire earth and inviting all who would

believe to come into His great

banquet. I assure you that this is the

result of Satan's best work. In the words

of the Master, while His men were

sleeping, His enemy came and sowed

weeds

among the wheat and left, and this is

found in Matthew

13-25. In other words Satan brought evil

men into the churches over the centuries

and even more are coming in today to

cause confusion in the hearts of the

followers of Jesus

Christ. I saw this firsthand years ago

when we had a burgeoning and vibrant

cell group going at my home in the

capital, and we were having exciting

meetings week after week.

And the word of God was rich and the

Holy Spirit was

present. One night Satan sent a wicked

church member to our meetings, he made

one statement and the meetings fell off

almost instantly. One by one they quickly

drifted

off. Nevertheless Satan has failed to

destroy God's Universal Church which

continues to roll on and is the largest

church on earth

today. Jesus Christ prophesied about this

when He said, thou art Peter and upon

this rock I will build my church and the

gates of hell shall not prevail against

it, found in Matthew 16 and

18. So in spite of the confusion that he

has caused in the hearts of men, he has

not prevailed against the Church of the

Most High God. The events introduced by

the Lord at The Last Supper were

consummated the following day in a most

violent manner

when He was tortured and

crucified. His assailants thought that

they had succeeded in destroying Him,

when in fact He had told His followers

beforehand that He would lay down His

own life as a sacrificial lamb and

establish a new

season. His once and for all sacrifice

would open the pathway for man to be set

free from the bondage of sin. This would

enable all mankind to access the

presence of His Holy Creator again

from whom he had been separated since

the fall of

Adam. A couple of hours after supper the

Lord Jesus was arrested and imprisoned

when a band of Roman soldiers barged

into the Garden of Gethsemane and broke

up a prayer meeting that he was having

with His

followers. The Savior was tried and

sentenced to death the following day and

less than 24 hours after introducing to

His followers the new Covenant in His

blood based on His sacrificial

death. But He turned the tables on His

enemies when He rose triumphant from the

grave three days after being

crucified. He appeared to as many as 500

people at various times before His

ascension to the

Father. Then after 40

days He ascended to His Father in Heaven

in the sight of His 11 remaining

Apostles. By this time Judas had already

hung himself, after which he fell

headlong into a field which he had

bought with the 30 pieces of silver he

was paid for betraying the Son of the

Most High God. And it is reported that

His body burst open and His intestines

spilled

out. The stage was now set for the next

great event. The arrival of the Holy One

called the Comforter, who would turn the

world upside down. Christ had told His

Apostles in Luke 24:4- 9, behold I send

the promise of My Father upon you but

tarry,

which means wait in the city of

Jerusalem, until you are endued with

power from on High. This promise He

referred to was the Holy Spirit, without

whom they would all be powerless, and so

would we. There are many in the church

today who have gone out without

receiving this gift, without receiving

this promise, and this is not wise.

The book of Isaiah tells us that they

that wait upon the Lord shall renew

their strength. In other words if we wait

on the Holy Spirit to send us out we

will be empowered and this is what

happened to the followers of Christ who

waited in the upper room. The Holy Spirit

is the one who leads us into all truth,

He's the one who guides and empowers

us.

And the Savior has made it clear that

His power is necessary in order for us

to be productive for the

kingdom. For instance in John 15:5, He

said I am the vine, you are the branches,

He who abides in Me and I in him bares

much fruit, for without Me you can do

nothing. My friend many have gone out

without the Holy Spirit, without the

presence of

Christ and this is one of the reason for

much of the confusion in the Churches of

God today.

According to scripture, when the Holy

Spirit arrived, the power of God fell

upon all who were present in the upper

room. Acts 1: 1-4 says it this way, when

the day of Pentecost had fully come they

were all with one accord in one place.

And suddenly there came a sound from

Heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind and

it filled the whole house where they

were sitting.

Then they appeared to them divided

tongues as of fire and one sat upon each

of them, and they were all filled with

the Holy Spirit and began to speak with

other tongues as the spirit gave them

utterance. Meanwhile, hearing all the

commotion a crowd gathered outside the

Cenacle. And in the gathering were people

from all over the world who heard them

speaking in their own native

languages. And Peter stood up along with

the 11 Apostles and preached the word of

God, reminding them that the prophet Joel

had prophesied of this wonderful day

when he said, and it shall come to pass

in the last days says God that I will

pour out of My Spirit on all flesh, acts

2:7. On that day there were 3,000 souls

added to their number. And as souls

poured into the kingdom, they continued

steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and

fellowship in the breaking of bread and

in

prayers. But it was not long before a

group called Judaizers, who were Jewish

Christians who believed that the Gentile

converts to Christianity needed to

follow Jewish law. And they began pushing

for circumcision to be required in order

to be completely saved. And they were

putting pressure on the Christian church

to adopt the practices of Judaism, which

Christ did not support. This was the

beginning of the confusion and problems

in the newly established Christian

communities. The Apostle Paul opposed

these teachings in his writings to the

Galatians. As a result salvation which

came by grace through faith in some

communities, now needed to be salvation

by grace and by works. And the church

was

changing. They were expecting saved men

and women of God to live like Jews

following Jewish customs, and to live in

accordance with Jewish law. And this was

only the beginning of the mass confusion

that we see in God's church

today. And so I leave you with a question

posed by Jesus

Christ. When He said, "When the son of

man

comes will He really find faith on the

earth? Found in Luke 18 and

8. Father I pray that you will give

wisdom knowledge and understanding to

the listeners to this message in the

holy and the wonderful name of Jesus

Christ. And that the spirit of Truth who

is the Holy Spirit will cause truth to

be lodged in their hearts about all the

questions that they

have about God's one true church. God

bless and keep you in Jesus mighty name,

amen.

You've been listening to this message

and perhaps you do not know Jesus Christ

as Lord and Savior. We want to give you

an opportunity to make that commitment

as we usually

do. Please engage your heart and say this

prayer after

me. Father I am a

sinner. I am sorry for all my

sins. I crave your

forgiveness. Thank you Lord

for the mercy you have extended to

me and for your

forgiveness. Today I invite Jesus Christ

into my

heart. Dear Lord

Jesus welcome to my

heart. I give you the key to my

heart because I now belong to you

forever. Please give me the Holy

Spirit to lead me into all

truth. Thank you Lord for saving my soul,

amen. Welcome friend to the body of

believers in Christ. Many of us are here

awaiting the return of the Good Master

and were

expecting that it may be any day. But in

the meantime we want to encourage you to

become water baptized as quickly as

possible. It is a part of the fulfillment

of all

righteousness. Begin reading the word of

God. Begin in the book of John then go to

Matthew, Mark and Luke, reading audibly

as

often as possible, because faith comes by

hearing the word of

God. Pray daily, attend at your local

church, and one glad morning the Savior

will come and receive us all unto

Himself, and we shall indeed forever be

with the Lord. God bless and keep you in

Jesus mighty name, amen.