church

Finally, it is wrong to say that "nothing" is more basic to the identity of the church than suffering. Nothing is more basic to the identity of the institutional church than the preaching of the gospel, the correct administration of the sacraments, and the worship of God in Spirit and in truth (Westminster Confession of Faith, 25.4). Nothing is more basic to the identity of the individual Christian than faith, hope, obedience, and love, the fruit of the Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 13:4-13; Gal. 5:22-24; 1 John 2:3; 3:10, 24; 4:7-21; 5:1-3).

Until the Second Coming, sin will remain a part of earthly existence. And as long as there is sin, there will be suffering and pain. But suffering by persecution is not a sine qua non of the church. If it is, there are few if any true churches in North America today.

Your current situation and workplace are your personal mission field. Why? Because you can reach people a church can't. You're on the front lines!

Our churches are full of people during work hours, in the morning, at noon, in the evening praying, instead of being in the factories, libraries, and laboratories, facilitating economic growth.

A Christian who is willing to take up arms against another Christian is a Christian who has traded in his membership in the post-Babel communion of saints for membership in a nation governed by refurbished stoicheic values. They have traded in their loyalty to the temple of the Spirit for loyalty to the flesh. Christians who make war against other Christians are Galatians, bewitched by the lure of patriotism, which is simply the lure of flesh. They are no longer in the ranks of the Spirit.

The most important part of religion isn't in any church. It's down in your own heart. Religion is in your thoughts, and in the way you act from day to day, in the way you treat other people. It's honesty, and unselfishness, and kindness. Especially kindness.

Jesus never says to the poor: __ome find the church_, but he says to those of us in the church: __o into the world and find the poor, hungry, homeless, imprisoned.

It is true that the church must be in many places and with many people, but it is the poor who will reveal to the church__ramatically and poignantly__he nature of its heart and mission.

The fact is, it is selfish for a church to not want to grow. A church that says, __e__e got enough people, we__e got a nice fellowship. Our church is just the right size. We just need to focus on the members we already have._ That church is, in reality, actually saying, __he rest of the world can go to hell. We don__ care.

If our church is not marked by caring for the poor, the oppressed, the hungry, we are guilty of heresy.

I say, __e believe in a Christ_. If that being existed physically or not, it__ still important, because the message was so basic and sensible and powerful, that we should live by those truths. Love, compassion, generosity. God doesn__ punish anyone. Churches aren__ needed. Money in connection to belief is an abomination. They say, __h_. Then they quote the Old Testament.

Take no stock in saying, "never", because it carries no guarantee.

But should we accept this negative view of power? Is power all bad? Specifically, can Christians share in this devaluation of power and discipline as inherently evil? Can we who claim to be disciples - who are called and predestined to be conformed to the likeness of the Son (Rom. 8:29) - be opposed to discipline and formation as such? Can we who are called to be subject to the Lord of life really agree with the liberal Enlightenment notion of the autonomous self? Are we not above all called to subject ourselves to our Domine and conform to his image? Of course, we are called not to conform to the patterns of 'this world' (Rom. 12:2) or to our previous evil desires (1 Peter 1:14), but that is a call not to nonconformity as such but rather to an alternative conformity through a counterformation in Christ, a transformation and renewal directed toward conformity to his image. By appropriating the liberal Enlightenment notion of negative freedom and participating in its nonconformist resistance to discipline (and hence a resistance to the classical spiritual disciplines), Christians are in fact being conformed to the patterns of this world (contra Rom. 12:2).

Grace makes us inwardly RIGHT so we walk outwardly UPRIGHT

When Jesus was wrapping up his days on earth, he didn't tell us to go to church. He didn't tell us to engage in a spiritualized version of channel surfing, as we hop from place to place in search of just the right programming to entertain us. He told us to get out and actually do the stuff he'd already been doing, painting the hope of God's reign on the canvas of God's world. He told us we're artists.

I don't care what it looks, I don't care what it feels like, I believe God.

The more we have of Jesus, the greater the love we have; the greater the love, the greater the sacrifice; the greater the sacrifice, the more we become like Jesus; the more we become like Jesus, the more successful our local churches become.

Battling the noise is creating a space for God and acknowledging the space He occupies, which is all of it. Invite God into all twenty-four hours of your day.This is the path of a #StaticJedi.