I'm just saying...

As Karen and I were finishing breakfast this morning, we read our two chapters (in Germany) out of the Bible and then began to discuss the things that we needed to work on today. We are discussing our topics for the classes that we will teach at the Bible camp next month. As you can imagine, this lead us many different directions as we shared our ideas and thoughts that we are working on refining so that we can share them with the others at this camp. What hit me this morning as we were discussing different things about the church... is the church. Okay, that sounds a bit funny, but bear with me a minute. Think back. Jesus was on the earth. He went around teaching people, seeking to bring them to God, to a deeper relationship with the Father through Him. He sought to show them what relationship was, not what religion was (is). He came, he lived, he died and he ascended back to heaven. Then on Pentecost the Holy Spirit came on the Apostles in a very special way. Peter stood up to talk to the very people who had crucified Jesus. He said to them, “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day." The church, the family of God, the followers of Jesus and his teachings... began that day. Luke continues by giving us a picture of how they were after this time, he says starting in vs. 42: "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Two things here. First, we see that they started out from the beginning by seeing how important community was. They were devoted to the things the apostles taught them to do. Second, GOD ADDED MORE PEOPLE TO HIS FAMILY. Okay, now on to my real thought for the day. The church. Regardless of what your definition of the church is... depending on your culture, how you were raised and what you have been taught, you must admit, it is pretty cool that after over 2000 years, we still have the church today. Yes, it has had and still has many faces, but it is still here. It looks very different in different countries, ha, in different cities... but it is still here. What most of us see as "church" looks very different than what we read in the last set of scriptures above... okay in principle we seek to form a community with these ideas as the foundation of why we do the things we do... but it does look different. It has to, it is a different culture, a different time and so on. But it is still THE LORD'S CHURCH and He is still ADDING THOSE THAT COME TO HIM, after 2000 years. I am thankful the it is God's church, His family. I am thankful that after so many years that people are still trying to live out what they read in the Bible and share it with other people. I am glad that God has an impact on my life and hopefully I can have an impact on other peoples lives. I am thankful that God established the church as a way for us to help each other. We live our lives and we try to be a good example of what it means to live our lives for Jesus and the church is there as a support and to hold us accountable too. How cool is that? I come form a business background. In my life I have seen business that started out very small turn into unbelievable conglomerations. Ha, I think of Walmart for example. But business, ever how great they are, come and go. Walmart will not be here forever. Sorry. The church is not a business, it is an organism. It is alive and living and growing. It is the family of God. It has been around for over 2000 years and still going strong. I am encouraged today when I think about my brothers and sisters, worldwide, that are seeking to live and be the Christians that our Father wants us to be. I am thankful for family. I am thankful for my Father. Maybe Sunday, when you walk in that "church building" again, you will look at what is going on that morning in a different way. Maybe you will stop and take note that this is the family of God meeting together seeking to bring glory to our Father and encouragement to each other while reaching out the world world that does not yet know God and seeking to be a reflection of Jesus to them. Taking a step back and realize how incredible it is that we have the church here, today! Hope my ramblings make a little sense to you. I hope you can stop and appreciate what a gift we have been given by God our Father in being added to His family, the church. God's blessings on you this day. Mark