Part 2 – What does it mean to be part of the church?
Filed under: Christianity, God, Worship, Worship Music, advice, church, church relevance, faith, family, religion | 6 Comments
Tags: Christianity, Christians, church, church relevance, faith, family, God, religion, Where In Hell Is The Church
Right on brother. Keep it up.
you look pretty…good post…
Great concept, check out the book “Jesus wants to save Christians” just wrote a review on our blog.
In line with what you are saying.
Wow what an awesome message,do continue to be about your Father’s business.I have to admit the title threw me for a second but I had to watch it. I am also trying to do all that God would have me to do,because like you said it’s time for us to get out of our comfort zone.One thing I will not do and that is argue over are about God’s word because the carnal mind cannot except the things of God,It’s all about Faith and God has given each person the ability to Believe in Him and he has also given everyone the right not to Believe.Jesus love for an unbeliever want change and He will keep Reaching out to you until the day you die,because his love for you is so Great.It is only in Christ that we please God,Ephesians 1:4 Long ago ,even before he made the world,God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes~It is because of Jesus that we are called His righteous ones.And there would have been no need for Jesus to die if we could please God by ourselves.There is room for you in Christ, He also chose you but you must decide whether to believe in Jesus the Only Son of the Only true and living God.
Still Standing
Coolbreeze
Hi, J2
Nice eyes.
I agree with what you’re saying. We get too comfortable sitting on the church pews (or folding chairs) and listening to the sermons. I’m not sure, though, that accosting strangers as they walk by us on the street is going to be very effective. It if would be effective, then shame on us for not doing it, but the goal is to get people redeemed, not to get them irritated.
The question is not, “Should we share our Lord with the world,” but rather, “How does He wish to be shared?” If you go back and ask him via the gospels, He says, “Go two by two, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons.” Very difficult to do, seeing we have no faith and therefore no power.
Maybe we need to get more basic than this commission He gave to those who had been following with Him for quite some time. Jesus spent three years in close one-on-one training with the twelve and the women who were with them. He sent the twelve out first, two by two. He then sent the seventy (who had also most likely been following with Him, though had not been chosen among the twelve) and they all had great results. From this, I would surmise the following: (and it isn’t the complete word on the subject. I’d love to hear anyone’s input.)
We need to spend close face time (a lot of it) with Jesus. We need to learn how to hear from the Father as He did. (The Son does nothing of Himself, but only what He sees the Father doing.)
We need to live in community and love with one another as Jesus and His disciples did.
We need His commission and empowerment to go to the world as He did, and as He sent His first apostles out to do.
I think a really big thing in reaching the world is that we learn how to be one. Jesus prayed for this before His crucifixion, mentioning it several times–that we would be one, as He and the Father are one, that the world would know that we are His disciples and that the Father has sent Him. Anything Jesus prayed for in this situation has to be big.
So I think what we need to do, if we want to be an effective witness to the lost, is learn how to become one with Jesus and with one another. How to be led by the Holy Spirit; How to hear from God on a moment by moment basis.
So how do we do that?
BTW, don’t take this as a censure in any way. I’m with you 110%. I just want to find a way to share that will get results–that will get people out of the kingdom of darkness and into the Kingdom of God.
God bless,
Cindy
Thank you Cindy. And thank you for pointing something out. I didn’t mean to imply that you should attack people you pass on the street with cries of “YOU’RE GOING TO HELL! REPENT YOU SINNER!”
That’s probably not the right way to attract people. What I WAS pointing out was the outreach aspect. The fastest way to gain someone’s attention is to show them you care. The best way to do that is to meet some need if it’s possible to do so.
That’s the point I was trying to get across. We should be talking to everyone. We should be serving God by helping people, not for personal gain, but out of genuine love. It’s what the people in the passage we read in this part of this series was practicing and it ATTRACTED people.
Cindy, being led by the Spirit is not something I was going to touch on in this series but it IS crucial to the process. I would be happy to do a series on living a spirit filled life if that’s something you’d like to see.
Let me know.
God Bless!