The word "church" brings to mind up a variety of images. Is the church a building where religious events take place? Is the church a social club in which Christians choose to hold membership, formal or informal? Is it a magnificent architecturally designed building with statues, stained glass windows and highly prized paintings? Or is it modest little chapel in a country setting?

None of these popular uses of the term "church" come even close to the New Testament meaning of the word church. The word translated "church" in the English Bible is ekklesia. This word is the Greek words kaleo (to call), with the prefix ek (out). Thus, the word means "the called out ones."

However, the English word "church" does not come from ekklesia but from the word kuriakon, which means "dedicated to the Lord." This word was commonly used to refer to a holy place or temple. By the time of Jerome's translation of the New Testament from Greek to Latin, it was customary to use a derivative of kuriakon to translate ekklesia. Therefore, the word church is a poor translation of the word ekklesia since it implies a sacred building, or temple. A more accurate translation would be "assembly" because the term ekklesia was used to refer to a called out people.

Strangely enough, in today's environment, many use expressions like "I'm going to church tonight", "Come to our church", or "Our church is located at 123 State Avenue". If a person from a New Testament setting, such as the book of Acts, were to listen to our "church talk", he would be quite confused. As stated, the expression "church" in those days meant a called out body of people, but today we use it to describe a building or group of people who regularly meet in a building. Instead of being called out, we use this word to describe a building in which people are compelled to come in!

Let us be clear. We are not necessarily opposed to meeting in a modest building, either rented or owned. However, we are strongly opposed to spending excessive resources on a brick and mortar building instead of on real needs of people. We have known of places where 70% or more of their entire yearly budget was spent on material (temporal) things, rather than spiritual things! The New Testament church, that is those holy persons who were called out of a life of sin, out of the world and out of formal religion, never owned a single building, yet they "turned the world upside down" and preached the gospel "to every creature".

The Bible teaches that born-again people are the church (1 Cor. 3:l6; Eph. 2:21-22; 1 Pet. 2:5). Just think of all the needs that could be met if we used God's resources to reach out to the lost, the hungry, the thirsty and poor, as Jesus commanded (read Matthew 25).

Is there not a real lesson here for us today?

The next time you see a building called a church, no matter how big or small, just remember, that "church" will someday instantly melt with fervent heat at Jesus' second coming. We will all give an account, not only for every idle word we speak, but for every dollar we misspend. We can hardly imagine God giving us a big pat on the back and saying "Thank you for that wonderful church building you dedicated to me and for spending so much of your time, money and effort on maintaining that building I just melted with fervent heat!

May God set the church on fire today, and by that we don't mean a building.

Ever heard this expression before? The Lion shall lay with the Lamb.

Really? Is that so?

Problem number one: The Bible says no such thing. Search the Bible through and through, from cover to cover, from Genesis to Revelation and you will never find where it says the lion will lay with the lamb.

It simply is not there.

How did this tradition get started? Well, we don't know for certain, but many years ago a man by the name of Thomas A. Dorsey wrote a song titled "Peace In The Valley". It has been sung by many popular worldly singers including, Red Foley, Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, , George Jones, Johnny Cash and Loretta Lynn, to name a few.

Part of this song says:

There will be peace in the valley for me, some day.
There will be peace in the valley for me, oh Lord I pray.
There'll be no sadness, no sorrow,
No trouble, trouble I see.
There will be peace in the valley for me, for me.

Well the bear will be gentle,
And the wolves will be tame.
And the lion shall lay down by the lamb, oh yes.
And the beasts from the wild,
Shall be lead by a child.
And I'll be changed, changed from this creature that I am, oh yes.

The closest thing to this expression in the Bible is found in Isaiah 11:6 where it says: "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them."

Nothing at all about a lion laying down with a lamb!

Problem number two: Even this passage is not teaching a time when a literal wolf will dwell with a literal lamb. Rather, it is prophesying of a time when a great change will come about when the nature of men, (symbolized by various animals in the animal kingdom) will be changed. It prophesied of a time when men's hearts filled with animosity and hatred towards one another would be replaced with peace, love and joy towards one another. 2 Peter 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

The little child mentioned in this scripture is none other then Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Problem number three: Many put this prophesy off to some time yet future. In reality, we can experience the reality of this scripture today by accepting Jesus as our personal Savior. We can experience the kingdom of God now. Jesus said in Luke 17:21, "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." This is a kingdom of peace, and it is reigning within!

Have you been changed from within? Has that "beastly" nature been removed and God's divine nature implanted into your heart? If not, even today you can experience what this scripture is teaching.

"While others dream of an age to come, He's reigning in our hearts today!"