Being Real, Being Gentle
Our attitude towards one another must be gracious. There’s love when you’re gracious, there’s tenderness when you’re gracious.
In Israel's northern city of Caesarea Philippi, among the ruins of a worship centre dedicated to the Greek god Pan, a cave exists that was long believed by those who worshipped there to be the doorway into the netherworld. It was in the vicinity of this grotto, the alleged gateway to hell, that Jesus promised: "Upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it" (Matthew 16:18).
From Pentecost in the first century to the present day, Satan has attempted to destroy Christ's Church—yet it endures. From a small group of Jewish outsiders in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, Christ built His Church to reach even the remotest parts of the world. Despite controversies, wars, and denominational splits, the Church continues to be the means through which God announces to a dark and dying world that light and life have come in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.
For these reasons, and many more, we learn about and appreciate the body of Christ, the Church.
Our attitude towards one another must be gracious. There’s love when you’re gracious, there’s tenderness when you’re gracious.
Being involved means more than shaking hands with people on your way out of a church service—it’s investing in the lives of others.
Tragically, erosion took a toll on the church at Ephesus causing the Lord to finally announce for all to hear, “You have left your first love” (Revelation 2:4).
Difficult days are ahead; in fact, they are already upon us. What should we do, knowing that the days are evil? Let's answer that question.
The church needs to understand the times in which we live and the culture in which we minister. From the Apostle Paul's pen, we'll glean the straightforward answer to this important question: “What must the church realize?”
In an attempt to come to an understanding of worship, it is helpful to realize there is a difference between the essence of worship and the expression of worship.
The tyranny of the urgent demands our time and forces us to put off the truly important. We need to stop and reconsider what's important. When we do, we'll discover that we're missing the essential ingredient we were made for: worship.
When a church is contagious, the word quickly travels. Churches like this have four distinctive qualities, as Paul listed in 2 Timothy.
By examining the first-century church we can find some insightful guidelines for our church in the 21st century.
We are surrounded by churches. Is it any wonder that so much confusion exists regarding the Church? Our idea of church needs renewal, so let's start at the beginning.