Do you go to church? Where do you go to church? Now those are two questions that you seldom here. I remember being in the company of believers hearing them exclaim ” I Belong To The Church of ..” or “I Attend….” It was as if they had an exclusive membership to a club or something.
There is nothing wrong with church pride, but church membership is not a promise of salvation. Your faith in Jesus Christ is what gets you into heaven. Belonging to a church with a membership of 1000 or more strong, doesn’t mean that church has the monopoly on the teachings of Christ nor are they “THE” path to God the Father. Identifying with a favorite teacher, preacher, pastor of prophet is not good because they are just ministers (servants) of the gospel.
Paul had a similar problem with… the Corinthians (Corinthians 3), rather than identify with the Body of Christ, the people Identified themselves as being apart of Paul or Apollos. Paul referred to this type of behavior as carnal. Who is Paul but a minister (servant) of the gospel, who is Apollos but a minister (servant) of the gospel. Who is Bishop or Evangelist or Prophet….., but a servant of the gospel. Romans 8:7 (YLT) …because the mind of the flesh is enmity to God, for to the law of God it doth not subject itself,
The ministry (service) has no place for superstars and heroes, we (the believers) belong to the body of Christ not to a building, not to a movement, not to a denomination or an organization. Attending a geographical location faithfully on a Sunday morning or being proud of the celebrity of your church and its leaders does not equate to citizenship in the Kingdom of God.
Understanding who and what the church is will cause you to realize that you cant sign in, you must be Born in.
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