by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
It was not to eradicate poverty. The church had no silver and gold for the beggar in Acts 3, yet it was taking care of its own members in Acts 2. Their mission was to get to the heart of man’s problem, and that is sin. You heard that right. Sin is the problem. Sin has always been the trouble with a broken world. Yes, get this straight. The Lord’s church is about addressing sin.<\/p>\n
Sin is what breaks people down and destroys one man at a time, and the result is, first, a broken relationship with\u00a0God.<\/strong>\u00a0It eats away at moral character and destroys hearts, lives, and relationships.\u00a0Sin <\/b>is behind every murder, every drunkard, every broken home, every divorce, adultery, fornication, every crime, every terrorist, every false religion. Sin <\/b>is the problem, and only the message of the cross of Jesus Christ can begin healing broken lives and hearts.<\/p>\n The church has one major mission: to spread the gospel (Acts 6:6), hold up the truth (I Timothy 3:15), and work on sharing fellowship with God until He is “all” and “in all” (Colossians 3:11). The gospel of peace makes people better from the inside out, giving them the right standard for living now and for preparing to live with God in paradise above.<\/p>\n If you want a better world now and forever, learn the truth of the gospel and find a church focused on that mission.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton It was not to eradicate poverty. The church had no silver and gold for the beggar in Acts 3, yet it was taking care of its own members in Acts 2. Their mission was to get to the heart of man’s problem, and that is sin. You heard that right. Sin…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[448,451],"class_list":["post-80858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-church","tag-teaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46302,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-about-the-next-sunday\/","url_meta":{"origin":80858,"position":0},"title":"What About the Next Sunday?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 16, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Some people meet with the church on \"Easter Sunday\" and hardly ever anytime else. That is out of tradition, not out of thinking seriously about doing the will of God. Tradition has been in the family to at least go to church one time a year,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35374,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-i-do-about-my-past-affair\/","url_meta":{"origin":80858,"position":1},"title":"What do I do about my past affair?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been married for almost 30 years.\u00a0 I got married in my early twenties to my high school sweetheart for all the wrong reasons.\u00a0 I have really never been happy in this marriage.\u00a0 I have grown children.\u00a0 I had an affair with a man for ten years.\u00a0 We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94395,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-it-any-of-lots-business\/","url_meta":{"origin":80858,"position":2},"title":"Was It Any of Lot’s Business?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 7, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton I got a note from someone telling me that the LGBTQ causes do not and should not concern me. That is like saying, what they are promoting in schools and through political causes does not concern me. Well, it does! You see, sin is a spiritual\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89452,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-often-should-christians-observe-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":80858,"position":3},"title":"How Often Should Christians Observe the Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Willis The Lord's Supper was instituted by Jesus Christ on the night of His betrayal and was designed to bring to our remembrance His beloved sacrifice for sin. Knowing that he would soon depart this world, Jesus commanded his disciples to take unleavened bread and fruit of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":734,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-hall-used-by-a-church-for-worship-also-be-rented-for-a-potluck-by-members\/","url_meta":{"origin":80858,"position":4},"title":"Can a hall used by a church for worship also be rented for a potluck by members?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Our congregation meets in a rented hall. Would it be wrong to make use of the facilities available for a potluck gathering? I understand that the church doesn't have authority to own a kitchen, but I was wondering why we couldn't rent the facility where we happen to meet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59606,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sin-of-small-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":80858,"position":5},"title":"The Sin of Small Churches","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Thomas It is not uncommon for people to measure a church's success solely by the numbers it has in attendance. One of the first things I am asked when people learn I am a preacher is how big the church is where I attend. They will then use\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80858\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}