Church

I love church! That is why on a day like today when I have to stay home because of sickness, I feel rather bummed. I would much rather be with the assembly of the saints, worshiping God together, learning and encouraging one another.

God designed one church as it tells us in Ephesians 4:4-6 "There is one body and one spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all." Christ is in charge of the church and the one who started it. "He is also the head of the body,the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything." Col. 1:18 You can check out how it was started in the 2nd chapter of Acts. The last verse (47) says "And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved." The church is made up of people all over the world who worship God and obey what He tells them in the Holy Bible. Jesus prayed that His church would have unity in John 17:21 "That they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me."

Here are some of the things that I love about church:

• We are family! I have a loving physical family but I am so thankful that in addition to that I have a much larger christian family. They each care about me and I care about them. We are there to help and serve each other. "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with he saints, and are of God's household." Ephesians 2:19
• We praise God together! I love being able to go to church and sing and pray together and be able to tell God how much we love Him. Although we can sing and pray on our own, there is something very encouraging and inspiring about doing it as a group. (And you can't have 4 part harmony by yourself!) "Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord." Eph. 5:19
• We learn together! I love to study the bible by myself but it is also very helpful to study with others. Everybody has different perspectives that lead to different insights, when we share them together we can all learn more. A neat thing about the congregation I am a part of is the fact that many different men preach and teach. There is a group of Elders as well as other well grounded christian men that take turns leading. This leads to many different insights and styles which I appreciate very much. "And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to breaking of bread and to prayer." Acts 2:42
• We remember Christ together! Jesus died for us, he deserves to be remembered and thanked for the sacrifice He made. Every week we take communion that reminds us of the suffering He went through for us so that we could have salvation and be His Body. " And when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood: do this, as often as yo drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes." 1 Corinthians 11:24-26
• We encourage each other! That is one thing we most certainly cannot do by ourselves and something that we desperately need. There are times when everybody gets tired and maybe a little down and we need encouragement. We need to go to church so that we can encourage others and be encouraged too! "And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near." Hebrews 10:24-25
• We are a body! Christ is our head and he has one body and we are that body. We need each other and we need to spend time together and get to know one another so that we can truly work together. Last month I cut my left thumb (my dominate hand) and cut part of the tendon so I had to wear a splint for 3 weeks that greatly restricted my mobility. Wow, did I ever miss my thumb. I could hardly write, wash dishes, button clothes, etc! It is the same way when someone that is a part of the Body of Christ is missing. We miss them terribly, we simply cannot work as well without them. "For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ , and individually members one of another." Romans 12:4-5

I love Christ's church and I hope you do too, or if you are not a part of the church I hope this will motivate you to find out about what you are missing!