I like at the end of the movie Saving Private Ryan how the main Characters have sacrificed so much to save and protect the life of Private Ryan.  Several have died in the course of finding Ryan, including Captain Miller–whose dying words to Ryan were “Earn this.”  In other words, people have given their lives to save yours, so honor their sacrifice by how you live your life.

The same goes for anybody whose life has been saved by Jesus Christ.  So much has been sacrificed to save people from an eternity in Hell.  And that gracious gift should be honored by the way we live our lives every day.  All true Christians should be living completely pure and dedicated lives, and do everything we can to bless God because he has blessed us so much!

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Did you know that there are a number of passages in the Bible that tell Christians to meet together to fellowship and worship.  It’s not only good to have church, but you could argue that a person isn’t a very good Christian if they avoid going to church on a regular basis.

Of course just going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than standing in a garage makes you a car.  However, a real Christian, who cares about Jesus and the Bible always looks forward to meeting with fellow believers to be encouraged in his work for the faith.

And that’s so important.  Because even more often than it talks about worshiping together, the Bible tells Christians to preach God’s Good News to the world.  And if you’re not doing that, well what good are you to God.  That’s our most important task.  A Christian who doesn’t go to church is like an athlete who doesn’t go to practice.  But a Christian who doesn’t share his faith is like a firefighter that refuses to put out fires.  The first will just lose you the game, but the second will cause lives to be lost.

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Have you ever taken a big trip somewhere?  It usually a lot of fun to get out on the open road (or skies or seas–whatever the case may be) and travel to someplace new and different, and enjoy the sights and experiences.  But what if you were forced to go on a long trip that you didn’t want to go on?  That happened to Paul.  He went on plenty of trips that he wanted to take because he liked being a missionary.  But there was one pretty disastrous trip that he didn’t have a choice about.  And you know what?  In spite of all the difficulties and his life being endangered a number of times, he seemed to make a pretty adventurous trip out of the ordeal.

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CHAPTER FOURTEEN – Don’t Let ’em Fool Ya

What’s wrong with the church today is not the music or the modern dress or even the trend toward the mega churches with coffee bars and barber shops and all that jazz.  What’s wrong with the church today, at least in the U.S., is that it is largely ineffective.  Sure we have some outreaches and mission trips and things like that.  But where are the real miracles, and turning the world upside down, and caring for all the widows and orphans, and repentance from sin, and morality outside of church, and preaching counting the cost and expecting persecution and trials as a Christian?

It seems to me like much of the church in America is little more than a weekly club meeting to make you feel better about yourself and not to actually affect your real life. But on the bright side, it doesn’t have to be like that!

What’s it like for you?

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CHAPTER FIFTEEN – A Well Oiled Machine

I watched a documentary today about how Clay County, Kentucky (and specifically the city of Manchester) has gone through a miraculous change because of unity in the church.  They were top in the nation for prescription drug abuse, and many people were dying because of crystal meth and other drugs.  So finally the city reached a breaking point where all the churches in town got angry at the drug problem because it was killing their children.  So for the first time all the churches united in passionate prayer and marched against corruption in their government and lawlessness in their community, and God showed up in response to the church uniting in prayer.

So the town changed in so many ways.  Many former drug users became Christians, the churches began to fill up, people in the government and schools all turned to God.  Drug dealers and corrupted city officials were arrested and jailed.  The town itself was cleaned up and beautified.  Business began to build and even the local plant and animal life has grown with numbers that haven’t been up for 50 years.

When people turn to God, it makes a difference.  The question is, what will it take for the church to unite in other cities and become a well-oiled machine for the glory of God?

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CHAPTER FOURTEEN – A Strong and Healthy Body

A virus can actually use your own cells to reproduce.  It will infiltrate the cellular structure in your body, reproduce inside a cell, and then destroy the cell as it releases itself after multiplying.  So it not only grows in number, but it wreaks havoc with your cells to do so.

The same thing can happen in the church.  Wicked people can move in, start causing division and wreck a church.  So it’s wise to be very careful about how people in your church deal with things like disagreements, gossip, etc.

After all we are supposed to be one body.  And we don’t want our body weakened because people weaseled their way into church and started causing problems.

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CHAPTER ELEVEN – Why Does a Dog Wag Its Tail?

I love it when a plan comes together.  And one of the really cool things about God is that he has a great plan.

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CHAPTER NINE – Remember

Have you ever set down your car keys and forgot where you put them?  How about the remote control?  Ever lost anything really important?

How do you go about remembering what’s most important?

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Too many times I’ve been asked the question, “Do you have to go to church to be a Christian?”

The technical answer is, of course, no.  Going to church does not make one a Christian.  There are plenty of non-Christians who go to church all the time.  They might even think they’re Christian because they go to church.  But going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than going to Washington makes you the President.  And going home again doesn’t remove any of your Christianity.  Proximity to a church building, is not how one determines whether or not they belong to Jesus Christ.

However, the question itself reveals a flawed view of Christianity.  A Christian IS the church.  All true believers are part of the body of Christ.  You can’t help it.  And the body has to work together.  You simply can’t work as part of an integrated body of believers if you disconnect yourself from it.  So real Christians seek out the opportunity to worship in unison with other believers, to serve and encourage each other in community, to carry out their mission to preach the Good News of the Gospel to the world as a team.

So you can become a Christian without ever having darkened the doors of a church building.  But you can’t live as part of the body of Christ while keeping yourself removed from the fellowship of the church.

In other words, don’t just go to church…BE the church.

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I’ve heard people say they think Jesus is cool–he was a nice guy, a good teacher, a miracle worker–and they say they believe in him because he was all about love and peace and helping people.  But some of those same people say they don’t like church or they don’t like Christians or they don’t like the Bible.

The sad thing is that there is only one Jesus.  In spite of all the opinions about him today.  There are cold, hard facts about who Jesus was and what he taught.  And a lot of people who are confronted with that truth don’t want to follow Jesus–just like a lot of people who heard Jesus speak blunt truth and walked away from him.

Jesus is great, but he also taught hard truths, like real love for Jesus is shown by total obedience to his commands, and you aren’t worthy to follow him unless you are willing to walk away from everything else.

Don’t get me wrong.  I think Jesus is awesome.  And the benefits of knowing him totally outweigh any sacrifice you might make to follow him.  But if you REALLY want to know Jesus, you have to accept him on his terms, not yours.

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