What does God want of his people?
When and where does he want it?
What does it look like? What’s it different from?
Who’s responsible for it?
When Jesus spilt his blood to save us, he gathered us together into His church eternally. The church is not an incidental part of God’s plan it’s absolutely central to our identity as Christians for the church is the Bride and Body of Christ - Ephesians 4:1, 15-16, 5:23-27, Colossians 1:18, 24, Romans 12:4-5, 2 Corinthians 11:1-4, Revelation 19:7-8, 21:9-11, Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hosea 2:16-23.
This term, as we consider “The Church” in our Sunday Sermons and mid-week Growth Groups, we will examine what being a church member means for us as God’s people in the Northern Illawarra today. For while learning to obey the commands of Christ is the privilege of every Christian, together in the local church is where it’s supposed to occur. All our learning, expressing, refining, failing, repenting, forgiving and trying again happens within the local church family as we meet. It’s here that we build one-another up in love as each part does its work, expressing our place in the Bride and Body of Christ!
I can’t wait to experience what God will do amongst us by His Spirit, as we study and apply His word together this term.
Michael
“The church is the hope of the world — not because she gets it all right, but because she is a body with Christ for her Head … The New Testament knows nothing of churchless Christianity. The invisible church is for invisible Christians. The visible church is for you and me.”
(Kevin De Young - The Glory of Plodding).