Want to be a member?

Have you given yourself to Jesus yet?

And have you gotten over yourself?

Give up yourself, and you will find your real self.
Lose your life and you will save it.
Submit to death, the death of your ambitious and favorite wishes every day, and the death of your whole body in the end: Submit with every fiber of your being, and you will find eternal life.
Keep back nothing.
Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours.
Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead.
Look to yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay.
But look for Christ and you will find Him.
And with Him everything else thrown in.

From C.S. Lewis

In they eyes of the New Testament writers, the local church – ordinary as it may be – is the fundamental work of God on the Earth. It is the center of his kingdom, His Temple 1 Core 3:16. It is the outpost of his gospel. It is the foremost display of his glory. It is the laboratory of sanctification, the entity that, as the dwelling place of God, we are to love, serve, edify, pray for, and devote ourselves to.

We all need the local church. It is where we find all the resources we need to love God and our neighbor in this sin-stricken world – exhortation, encouragement, rebuke, opportunities for service, enjoyment, edification, and so much more. It is specially set up and calibrated to mature us, to lift our eyes from ourselves to see the needs of those around us and the glory of the church’s Lord.

Every local church that preaches the true gospel is a part of the most dynamic movement the world will ever know. By the power of God working in the hearts of men, the lowly are great, the weak are mighty, and the mustard seed of faith topples a mountain (Matt. 17:20_). The local church is not the B team – it is ground zero for God’s kingdom work. Join it, serve it, love it, and experience the satisfaction that comes with involvement in the gospel cause that transcends all others.

Satan is the great accuser, always pointing a cruel finger at our transgressions. But God has put these spiritual forces “to open shame, by triumphing over them” in Christ’s crucifixion (Col. 2:15). The debt has been paid. The law has been fulfilled. Our justification is real. The pattern for the church remains unchanged. God wants us to be changed by the Spirit, filled with hope, delighting in Christ, loved by the fellowship, and free from shame. Entrance into the Kingdom

It is easier to fight for one’s
Principles than to
live up to them.

Our church is governed by itself, electing members (elders) of the board (session) and a pastor (teaching elder).

Each member is accountable to Christ.

Important goals regretfully can be set aside for “immediate gratification”

Life is a food court and we are the fast food uatum. Our values are (and gods)

• convenience
• autonomous individualism
• self expression
• instant gratification

We settle for a disive – through window Happy Meal when God offers us a feast with him in the communion of saints.

“Why do you spend your money for that which is not food, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?” (Isa. 55:2a)

Like Rats (see the beginning of Ratatouille) comfortable with eating trash, we are prone to consume spiritual rubbish and junk food.

A person must not choose his neighbor;
God is sending you
he must take the neighbor that God sends him.
has put you there
The neighbor is just the person who is next to you at any moment,
has a purpose for you
the person with whom any business has brought you in contact.
right where you are.

-George MacDonald

What you need to know, should know, is that

We love the church (Suz and I)
We love the imperfect church
The imperfect church / which is God’s perfect
plan to re-right our world.
…we’re to do that.

A vision of a mighty Lord carrying out a cosmic mission

God grants time
time to make a deposit into us
a sacred moment
something new (easy to miss it)
(the carpet is not required to be in any particular condition, but only our hearts)
step into the offer
Say yes even if you don’t know
don’t live in poverty – step into freedom
step out of the past pain
Raise the level of expectation – of fellowship

1 Cor 2:9

The Lord’s Prayer