Experience LW: The Importance of Church | Mac Hammond

Sermon Recap

We were treated to a special Sunday called “Experience Living Word!” The purpose of this special Sunday was to encourage members to bring others to church to share with them the rich experience that church attendance has had on their lives. Pastor Mac started the service by sharing how he and his wife, Lynne, started Living Word some 42 years ago. He identified what kind of church Living Word is, a full Gospel, Charismatic Word of Faith Church. He then shared fascinating details about the decline of church attendance and how it can be correlated to the repeal of “blue laws.”

Dive Deeper

Pastor Mac shared that he and his wife, Lynne, founded and are the pastors of Living Word Christian Center. It began 42 years ago in 1980 with 12 people in attendance at the first service.

Living Word is not associated with a denomination. It is a full Gospel, Charismatic Word of Faith Church. Being described as a “faith church,” Pastor Mac explained that being a faith church means your belief system shapes who you are and how you experience life.

People say, “If there was really a God that cared, the world wouldn’t be in such a mess.” There is a widespread ignorance of who God is in the world, even in the body of Christ. Pastor Mac gave a brief talk about who God is and who He is not. He explained that God is good. He is faithful. There is no evil in Him, and He doesn’t use evil to chastise you.

We live in two realms of truth: the spiritual realm and the temporal realm. There are truths that govern life in both realms.

Shared a paper by secular economists entitled, “Opiates of the Masses. Deaths of Despair and the Decline of American Religion.” Paper revealed a direct correlation between two striking much-discussed social trends of recent decades. First, an abrupt decline in religiosity, or church attendance. Second, soaring death rates from suicide, drug poisoning, and alcoholic liver disease, or so-called deaths of despair.

Paper studied why American religion was on the decline and found it was in direct correlation to the repeal of “blue laws.”

Read About It

Proverbs 13:12, “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick.”

2 Corinthians 4:17–18, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Discussion Questions

Can you list some of the ways that church attendance has enriched your life?

Who are some people you think could benefit from church attendance?

What are some of the ways your eyes have been opened regarding “blue laws.”

 

 

 

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