CHURCH IS NOT GOD - Part 2
Last time we said that a lot of people mistake Church for God.
The truth is, Church is not God. However, God is Church.
It’s very understandable to see how some might come to think of Church as God. Afterall it was founded for Him. But…
Well, let’s look back and see how, and what, Church was supposed to be. Way back when it first began.
One of the questions that I’ve always heard was, how did Church begin?
The word Church comes from the Greek word kyriakon, which refers to “a house of the Lord” otherwise known as a place of worship.
But generally speaking, the literal translation is “belonging to the Lord”, or “the Lords Day”.
So, from this we can draw that Church is really about setting time aside to worship God.
It’s a day to dedicate your devotion to the God of all Gods. The great God Yahweh. Or more simply put, it’s a time of dedication.
It’s not specific to Sunday, Saturday, Wednesday night, or any other day. Those were just times regulated by men, not God.
Church is not for God, its for us.
Church is time we carve out of our schedules expressly to worship God. Whenever we do that.
But how can you worship a God you don’t know? The answer is, You Can’t!
If you attempt to have Church/Worship without a personal and intimate relationship or real-life connection, then all you are doing is performing a pagan ritual that means nothing and wasting valuable time.
Unfortunately, there are a good many people who are doing just that.
Just like the children of Israel did for at least 400 years or more.
There was No Church, Until…
Until that is, they were delivered from slavery and their cruel masters, released to freedom without a war or battle, hunted down by their oppressors who wanted to kill them, experienced an ocean split open before their very eyes so they could walk in it on dry land, watched that same ocean close back up again and destroy their oppressors forever, fed and cared for while hungry and homeless in a desolate wild wilderness for forty years, experienced the death of their leader and father figure, wandered aimlessly for years through the wilderness searching with hope for a promised homeland, then and only then were they ready to truly worship God.
Then they were ready for Church.
I’m not suggesting that one must go through hardships or trials before being prepared to worship God. But it definitely helps focus our intensions in the right area.
To truly worship God, or to Church, you would need a personal experience with his love. God is Love!
Unless and until there is an individual encounter with God there is no Church!
Church is not God. Church is How. How you reverence God.
How you show God that you really do love Him. Worship!
Church, is not a building, an organization, or a sect/group/type of people.
Many see Church as exclusive, but its origins were inclusive.
All peoples and types are welcome to worship the one true living God.
Jesus said my fathers house is a place of worship for all nations. Mark 11:17
Church is more Invisible than it is visible.
Many want to be seen in Church, but true, real, Church is about the unseen.
What you do in front of God, not others.
Superheroes look like ordinary people mostly, until they help someone, then they wear a mask. Because it is not about them.
We should want to be the Unseen Church, not the seen Church.
Church, are you ready?
This is a Thompson Truth
