Status Updates From Why Church?: A Basic Introd...

^That is the way the church is. It is the place of genuine life, where we find what we were made for and how we can be what we were meant to be. That person we are becoming is connected to the Lord of life who gives us fullness of joy. We abide in the one who is Joy.

John 15:11^

^Jesus chose his disciples and then each disciple turned around and looked and found they had a community of really close friends that they did not choose.^

^The church should be a reconciling community bringing together people who are united in Jesus Christ, even if they are not united in many other ways.^

^The local church should reflect the local community.^

^Mackay's wonderful reminder, even coming from a rather formal Presbyterian, was that the church requires order, but must not lose its ardor.^

^Can a person come to faith, start attending a local church, and not tell others about Jesus? Well, I guess they can, but if they are mute in their witness they have not yet understood what it means to be a Christian. There is a direct connection between believing in Jesus and speaking to others about Jesus.^

^Jesus walked along the road and heard the blind beggar, he saw Zacchaeus in the tree, and he felt the touch of the bleeding woman. His attentiveness—listening, looking, and feeling—to the needs around him shows how we should grow in our own awareness of the needs for healing, reconciliation, and compassion.^

^It is true that mission beyond our community and beyond our borders is the calling of every church. But it is also true that "go!" means we go out from the Christian community (church) to be the good news for others in our community.^

^By God's Holy Spirit, the missionary brings something of the presence of Jesus even when there is little she or he can do to alleviate suffering.^

^However, proclaiming good news without demonstrating good news is equally tragic. We illustrate the good news that we tell others through the good news that we do as a community.^

^We will be challenged by Scripture (because we are sinners) and we will also be comforted (because we are broken).^

^We should listen to the reading of Scripture expectantly. Be prepared to be captured by the Word, to be confronted, or to be comforted.^

^In the presence of such a great (and good) loving God, we know our need for confession and forgiveness. But all of this depends on our knowing God better each day.^

^Everything God gives us—his calling, cleansing, joy, gifts, and talents—all is given to us to serve others.^

^Humility's power comes from its truth.^

^Like hazardous materials buried in leaky containers, our unconfessed sins seep into the soil of our souls.^

^As we all know it is far too easy to return to older patterns of behavior when sin has not been confessed.^

^Worship reorients us. We realize again who we are by seeing whose we are.^

^When older brother finds the scissors and tries them out on younger brother's hair or when a teenage child comes home late and smells of alcohol, parents want a confession more than perfection.

We don't expect our children to be perfect, but we would like them to be honest, and we want them to trust us to forgive them.^

^In the presence of a great athlete, we all look pretty feeble. In the presence of a great opera singer, we all sound pretty flat. When in the presence of a holy God, we all are exposed as sinners.^

^It is dishonest to pretend everything is OK when it is not, but it is also dishonest to think God is not worthy of praise when life is difficult. Life is difficult much of the time. Praise is still in season, all of the time.^

^Forgiveness is one of the most difficult things we will ever have to do in life. Praising God in hard times may be the second hardest thing to do.

We must affirm that the conditions for praise do not rest on us, but on God.^

^Psalm 150, the last psalm, tells us where we can praise God, why we praise God, how we are to praise God, and who is to praise God.^

^"I just didn't like the music at that church" is more revealing about the life of the worshiper than about the church.^

^Worship of the living God became part of his healing: it was both an intimate experience with God—the One who is closer to you than you are yourself—and an ecstatic experience with God.^

^Praise wells up into our whole being: emotions, body, mind, and will. Praise can be ordered and thoughtful, but it can also become an explosion of joy.^

^Testimonies are acts of praise.^

^One of the most common words in the Old Testament is remember (zakar). Israel is constantly told to remember what God has done for them. But think about this: In remembering what God has done, they remember who they are. They are a people who have been saved and have been given a purpose.^