To All Our Loyal Readers,

It has been almost nine months since we flipped the switch and went live with AskYourPreacher.  In that time, we have answered hundreds of e-mails privately and publicly, braved the storms of technical issues, enjoyed the blessings of your kind words, been able to connect people to faithful churches around the globe, heard reports of multiple baptisms, and made some truly lasting friendships.  For all of this, we thank you and praise God.

Today, we celebrate a thrilling milestone of having posted our 500^th answer.  Thank you for the journey.  We are humbled and thankful for the ride this far and excited for all the great days ahead.  If any good has been done, the credit goes to God (1 Cor 3:7).

If we could ask one thing, it would be that you keep reading and sending in your questions.  You never know what life may be touched because you had the courage to ask for a Bible answer and allow us to post it for all to see.  After receiving all of your wonderful questions, more than ever, we are convinced that there is a Bible answer for every question.

With Deepest Thanks,

The AYP Team

If God loves everyone, why does He send people to hell?

Sincerely,
Concerned For Souls

Dear Concerned For Souls,

God doesn’t want anyone to go to hell (Eze 33:11), but He gave us free will, and He respects our choices. Heaven and hell are the two eternal destinations of the human soul. Every human being gets to choose which path they wish to take (Matt 7:13-14). God gives you an entire lifetime to decide which place to live. During this life we choose to submit to Him (Jas 4:10) and wait for Him to exalt us, or we live for ourselves and must depend on ourselves on the day of judgment (Lk 13:25-27).

Heaven and hell are about choices. By the way we live, we choose to be with God forever or to live for ourselves. God desperately wants all to choose Him, but when people don’t, He respects their wishes. Even if it means by respecting them, they become separated from Him eternally. God respects your freedom to choose… so choose wisely (Heb 9:27).

What is the mission of the Church?  I know we can look at what the Church does or does not do in the New Testament, but are there specific verses that point to exactly what the Church should be doing?

Sincerely,
Working It Out

Dear Working It Out,

The clearest verse on the subject of the church’s purpose is in the book of Ephesians. Eph 4:12-16 points out that the church was designed, so that the saints would be ‘perfected’, for the ‘work of the ministry’, and for the ‘edifying (building up) of the body of Christ’.

The church of the New Testament is supposed to help prepare christians to be better christians by filling their minds with God’s Word. We see many examples of the church being busy with this kind of teaching and learning (Acts 2:42, Col 3:16). This is how christians are perfected (Col 1:28).

The church is also to be busy about the ‘work of ministry’ – preaching to the lost. Christ said He came to save sinners (1 Tim 1:15). One of His last commands to His apostles was to preach to the lost (Matt 28:18-20). Every congregation must be actively attempting to teach the Word of God to those who don’t understand it.

After preaching to the lost and teaching the saved, the only other work that we see an example of is caring for needy christians. Paul told Timothy there was a time to help out poor widowed christians (1 Tim 5:9-10). We also see the church in Jerusalem doing this (Acts 4:34-35).

The reality is that a local congregation’s work has always been very simple:

1. Teach the saved.
2. Preach to the lost.
3. When necessary, care for needy christians.