“You can be committed to the church, but not to Christ. But you can’t be committed to Christ and ignore the church.” -Randy Hall
The sermon this morning was dead on, and I truly loved the message because it is something that I have questioned for many years.
“We have church every day in our homes” I would say. “I have never felt you had to go to church to prove you’re a good Christian.” Which I can’t lie I still do very much believe in those statements. I don’t believe putting me inside a garage makes me a mechanic anymore than I believe going to church makes me a good Christian, soldier of God.
However, a good friend of mine kind of planted this seed a while back ago, which I am glad she did. She said something to the matter of, “that is true, going to church doesn’t all of a sudden make you a Christian or a good one at all. But if anything, the church is meant to be there to worship and be with others who believe in the Lord as you do. It’s about gathering, growing and learning from each other.” Which I realized I totally believed in too because I still yearned to be a part of a church that I truly loved and enjoyed to go to every Sunday.
Fast forward a few years later and here we are at a church that we truly love and absolutely hate it when we can’t make it every week. That has a lot to do with our new Pastor and her family who we love as our own. Drew and I definitely needed her in our life. God knew if anything, we were the ones who needed them in our lives. Ever since Pastor Joy has became a part of our lives, I have seen a change in Drew and myself that we never saw before. She was the push we needed in the right direction. The encouragement, love and support we had needed for 20 something years.
Anyways, to get back on track today. I truly feel like God was ready for me to hear this message. I am so thankful for today’s sermon. I understand a lot more now why I should understand that saying you don’t need church is incorrect. I also truly believe in her message as far as you can’t love Christ unconditionally and not be committed to the church. The church is me, every single day, showing up and craving to learn about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Church is me going out and taking that love, grace, kindness and His Message to people outside the church. Inviting people into our home, embracing all and inviting them to our home, the church.
As she stated in today’s sermon, “Love. Be With. Forgive.” That is the theme of our church this year (every year). To be present with God’s people. To be personal with Jesus. And to be persistent in my practice.
How can I serve You, Lord?
I can take the church wherever I go, so that He will be there waiting for someone else to join me. Because where just two people are joined in God’s name, that is a church. Because God can do great things – big things – a whole lot – with just a little. That’s why I love the Bible verse about faith as small as a mustard seed. That’s all we need a little bit in order to grow into what God has planned for His life through us. How wonderful is that? I get chills thinking about it… God’s life through us.
“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.”
Colossians 1:16-18 ESV
“that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ,”
Colossians 2:2 ESV
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”
Colossians 2:6-7 ESV
Resource: Church Sermon today by Pastor Joy (to get straight to the sermon skip to 27 mins into video)