This is my local church. I believe in the local church as the first place a born-again Christian finds care, accountability, Biblical teaching, opportunity to worship in harmony with other believers, and a place to practice loyalty, love, and redemptive forgiveness. If you cannot live in long-term integrity with your neighbors, what witness can you have anywhere else in the world? If we cannot accept encouragement and criticism from the people who know us best, then are we able to hear God at all?
When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he did not take off the grave clothes. He told the family to do it. We are the family of God. We are to help each other take off the grave clothes of sin, and put on Christ, and his new life. We each have only a small perspective, a narrow sliver of life experience. Our greatest gift is access to a broader view of God’s grace that we can get from simply sharing our lives with our fellow believers. We make a grave error if we doubt their salvation, or refuse to believe that God has given them each His internal direction, and the ability to love us as unique individuals, though at times we may not understand.
The best church on the planet is the one God has put me in. The best brothers and sisters are those one-of-a-kind people that have committed to stand by me ’til we see God’s face together in eternity.
I hope everyone reading this has a family of God like mine. If you don’t, I hope you live close enough to join us!
This is my local church. I believe in the local church as the first place a born-again Christian finds care, accountability, Biblical teaching, opportunity to worship in harmony with other believers, and a place to practice loyalty, love, and redemptive forgiveness. If you cannot live in long-term integrity with your neighbors, what witness can you have anywhere else in the world? If we cannot accept encouragement and criticism from the people who know us best, then are we able to hear God at all?
When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he did not take off the grave clothes. He told the family to do it. We are the family of God. We are to help each other take off the grave clothes of sin, and put on Christ, and his new life. We each have only a small perspective, a narrow sliver of life experience. Our greatest gift is access to a broader view of God’s grace that we can get from simply sharing our lives with our fellow believers. We make a grave error if we doubt their salvation, or refuse to believe that God has given them each His internal direction, and the ability to love us as unique individuals, though at times we may not understand.
The best church on the planet is the one God has put me in. The best brothers and sisters are those one-of-a-kind people that have committed to stand by me ’til we see God’s face together in eternity.
I hope everyone reading this has a family of God like mine. If you don’t, I hope you live close enough to join us!