| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Christian community” Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to live worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:1-3 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Church life is important, so protect it” “The Church” exists in two forms. There is the universal church, which is the body of Christ worldwide. It is made up of all Christians everywhere. The other expression of the church is what we know as the local church. Local churches are the individual communities of believers who gather together as church families. There is one universal church, but there are millions of local churches. Every Christian is a member of the universal church simply by virtue of your profession of faith in Christ. But every Christian also needs to be a member of a local church. But that doesn’t happen automatically. It has to be an intentional choice by the individual and it is essential. Life in a strong and healthy local church is essential to your spiritual health. In fact, the New Testament provides us no picture of “Lone Ranger Christians.” The ideal is always portrayed as individual Christians gathered in church families watching out for and taking care of each other. This is why Hebrews 10:24-25 commands us not to skip church gatherings (the implication is that you are a member of a church). There are multiple reasons Christians sometimes do not belong to a local church. Sometimes it’s because the person has had a bad experience in church and has therefore written off church life. That’s unfortunate, and it’s also of Satan. Satan likes nothing better than to cause problems in churches and then to convince Christians that church life isn’t worth the trouble. In Ephesians 4:1-3 Paul gives us some guidance about this. There he urges us to relate to each other with a humble attitude, a gentle disposition, and in a spirit of love. And also, with patience. We are to be patient with each other. All of that taken together means that we must all be careful not to give offense, and we must all be slow to take offense. Protect the fellowship by being kind to each other – and also by being thick-skinned. As we conclude these two months of devotionally considering the important theme of Christian community, I urge you to be actively involved in the full life of a healthy church. And then do your part to protect that fellowship and to help keep it healthy. God bless, Pastor Jim (Join us at Oak Hill Baptist Church every Sunday at 10:00. Join us in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you are a shut-in, join us online at www.YouTube.com/oakhillbaptistcrossville) |
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