The Church Has Left The Building - I Wish!

"The church of Christ is not supposed to be a group of harmless, irrelevant, mind-your-own-business worshippers who gather once a week, tucked away from anything public, just to practice their form of religion. ... Nothing could be more unbiblical. The purpose behind this satanically inspired dogma is to keep the Church from being the Church - the ekklesia." - Dutch Sheets, Authority in Prayer: Praying with Power and Purpose. And let me add, that kind of thinking smells like smoke and is from the pit of Hell, to borrow a phrase from Steve Brown. Salt is useless in the shaker. I know that is not an original thought, but it needs to be repeated until we live it. The absence of light is darkness. That too is obvious and we need to be reminded. If these illustrations are so known and obvious, why are they not practiced more by the Body of Christ? Amazing and wonderful things happen when Salt and Light Christians touch their world. Thomas Stewart is finding that out in his world. People are hurting for meaning for something that is real. People want a place of acceptance not judgment. Acceptance is not agreement. Will we ever learn that? We can quote John 3:16, but what about John 3:17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through Him."NASB Why was Jesus always with sinners? He was here to save not judge. Yes I know He will be the Judge of all, but don’t get side tracked and miss the beauty of the passage. Jesus was WITH sinners to SAVE sinners! Some of us can be so dignified we are petrified. We have spend so much time with each other we are terrified at the thought of an encounter with someone from the world. I think that part of our lack of motivation is that we have become so comfortable with our relationship with Christ, that we have forgotten what it was like to be lost. Do you remember how you felt when you realized that you were lost, and that if you died with out the Lord there was no hope? "He that believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." John 3:36 NASB "Father help us remember what it was like to be a people without hope. Let us remember also how we felt when we were brought out of that watery grave and raise to walk in newness of life. And then send us back into that world to be Jesus to those who don’t know Him."