I was recently given an assignment to create a 5-7 minute talk, the subject was "church". Give me some feedback!
There are a lot of religious and biblical words in the world today that are being used in a different manner than what we see in the bible. Many of us use the phrase “going to church” when describing our Sunday or Wednesday assembly and I want to take a look at what church is and what it is not.
Church comes from the greek word ecclesia simply translated to mean “assembly” and in
In Acts 11:26
We see that we can “assemble with the church”
In Acts 14:27
We see the church can gather together
We can see by those two examples that the church is not a brick and mortar building but rather the assembling of the saints in one place for a purpose.
In Acts 20:7
We see they “came together” to Worship God and take the Lord’s supper.
In I Cor 14:26
We see the church came together to be edified
and in verse.19 to edify others
We can see from these examples that the early Christian came together to worship God and not to be entertained or for socializing.
The last thing I want us to look at is who the church belongs to.
Let turn to Mathew 16:16
Jesus clearly states that the church belongs to him.
The word of God is very clear as to what the church is, and a seemingly innocent statement like going to church can give a totally different meaning to what the church is and what purpose the assembly has for the Christian and non Christian alike. I submit to you that we need to separate ourselves when it comes to our use of biblical words to our religious and worldly friends. Showing them that we speak where the bible speaks and are silent where the bible is silent.
I appreciated the comments someone had not too long ago in class that "fellowship" is something you have, not something you do. I know that's not exactly what you are talking about but it's another largely misused word by our religious friends. We always said "going to services" instead of "church."
Oh I'm sure they will pass it, and probably unanamously. I doubt they consider sending it to a Referendum. But Rest assured that I will be ready to remind folks of all of their nonsene in May. Mike's ok...I just think some of the things they have done are stupid. The funny thing is, I used to never care about city Government, until I became a homeoner myself.
I'm preaching a sermon in a few weeks about "The Problems with the Social Gospel." In a few months after that, I will be preaching a sermon "What Jesus Did NOT Come To Do." I'll be talking about these problems. Maybe it'll help. We can talk about it if you want to.
Went to the gym yesterday for the first time in, hang on, let me consult my calendar...yeah, ever. It felt good to begin work to get back to my pre-pregnancy form. I just had a baby, you know. He'll be 3 in a few months.
It's such a personal and emotoinal thing to work out. The dynamic of thoughts that ran through my head was astounding, ranging from, "This feels really great! I am so proud of me!" to "If I were to die today, what would happen to my children?"
We didn't sell our house, and have given up. We let our new-house-to-be go and are trying to focus on the positive (sniff). Learning to be content with what you have (a super-tiny house) builds character, right? Also, the mortgage on this shoebox can't be beat. With the economy the way it is, it feels more secure. Not that I'm grabbing my purse and headed for the bank to withdraw all our money or anything, I am just more comfortable playing it safe right now.
We just returned from Angel Fire, NM over the Independence holiday. We had a much better time than we expected with Jack's parents, sister, her husband and their two kids. Our beliefs generally contrast (really contrast) with his sisters, but it only got wierd twice. Not bad for 4 days, huh? Just when we she told me that the way to rid ourselves of poor Katie's chronic nightmares was to tell her she doesn't have to live out the tragedies of her past lives anymore, and that tension hanging in the air as we left (alone) for church early Sunday morning. That kind where you are totally without doubt that the minute you shut the door behind you, someone will utter, "Pshh. What's up with those freaks."
Q:"How is the spinner going to give you the seven?"
A:"There's not a seven, but I can spin two 3s!"
Also,
We really enjoyed the Harrington's visit this week!
We have had our house on the market for one week and we have only received 3 calls! We need lots of crossed fingers on this one as we have already signed a contract on another house! I know that is generally not a great idea, but we are buying a house from someone at church and they are in no hurry. However we are dying to get our hands on their house! Katie has already picked out the most perfectly princess purple paint!
This is way in advance but I was wondering if you guys could come over on the 30th for dinner. There's a Dillas game that night at 7:00 and I thought it would be fun to go to that afterward. What do you think?
I haven't even looked in our mailbox since we got back from Albuquerque (last night at about 10:00). Is it going to be mysterious once we see what it is or will it simply remain a mystery until we see what it is???
Two days until we leave for California, or "Cali" as the cool kids call it. I can't wait to travel hours on end with my mother and children cramped into...a tiny...airplane. Wait a second.
Oh well, I will just close my eyes and envision planting my pasty, pudgy self on an old beach towel in the middle of a sea of bronze and silicone perfection. I will relish in the comfort and reassurance of my giant knee length swim shorts and tank top. I will eat the tiny food, look at the tiny people, see them in their tiny clothes, and I will proudly declare, "Howdy y'all! We's from Texas"
I will take pride in my mother's ever-present fanny pack and giant sun visor.
It's gonna be awesome.
Lacy
Hi! My wife and I are coming to Amarillo on May 9th-11th. We will be staying with a different elder each night. I am going to be doing the Bible class and the morning sermon. I can't wait to get there and meet everyone.
That wisdom tooth thing was a piece of cake. It didn't hurt at all and it never started hurting. I was so glad. The dentist yanked it out and said, "It's a girl!" dork
I'm sorry we didn't get to spend as much time together as I wanted, but we were at the mercy of others. Oh well, hopefully, we'll have more of an opportunity pretty soon.
