LIVING THOUGHT: YOU ARE GOD’S CHURCH – OF THE CHURCHES OF GOD!
“. . . 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH; and THE GATES OF HELL shall not prevail against it . . .” Matthew 16:14-20.
“Give none offence, neither to THE JEWS, nor to THE GENTILES, nor to THE CHURCH of God: 33 even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved” 1 Corinthians 10:32-33.
“Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me DAILY, the CARE of all THE CHURCHES” 2 Corinthians 11:28.
The CHURCH is NOT the CATHEDRAL or STRUCTURAL BUILDING or DENOMINATION of any kind that you may think. For YOU ARE the Church and of THE CHURCHES of God in Christ Jesus stead. Amen! You the one Church of the Churches that the Saviour and Lord, Christ Jesus, is building. You ARE that building undergoing His work 24/7. You ARE His temple, His dwelling place. You ARE of God and He lives in you. You are the dwelling of the Holy Godhead and the greater one resides in you. That’s awesomeness, graciousnesss and gracefulness indeed.
“Ye ARE of God, little children, and have OVERCOME them: because GREATER is he that is in you, than he that is in the world . . .6 We ARE of God: he that KNOWETH God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby KNOW we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error” 1 John 4:4, 6.
It’s a high time you know who you ARE and ARE BECOMING of God in Christ Jesus stead; otherwise, you may be subject to the SECTARIANISM and DENOMINATIONALISM embedded in the tradition of men make-belief and dogmas, creeds, bylaws and philosophy that leads to BONDAGES and not after Christ Jesus stead. When you know you are the Church, you won’t be having infighting as the Corinthians Churches who lay claims to – “I am of Paul or I am of Apollos” the nearly ruined their faith of God in Christ Jesus. Even today, many have subjected themselves to – “I am of this DENOMINATION, of that SECTARIANISM or of that Apostle or Prophet or Pastor and such like, than to being after Christ Jesus as His Church of the Churches of God in Him.
“. . . 6 As ye have therefore RECEIVED Christ Jesus the Lord, so WALK ye in him: 7 ROOTED and BUILT up in him, and STABLISHED in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 8 BEWARE LEST ANY MAN SPOIL you through PHILOSOPHY and VAIN DECEIT, after the TRADITION OF MEN, after the RUDIMENTS of the world, and NOT AFTER Christ. 9 For in him DWELLETH all the FULNESS of the Godhead bodily. . .” Colossians 2:1-23.
“. . . 3 For ye are yet CARNAL: for whereas there is among you ENVYING, and STRIFE, and DIVISIONS, are ye not CARNAL, and WALK AS MEN? 4 For while one saith, I AM OF PAUL; AND ANOTHER, I AM OF APOLLOS; ARE YE NOT CARNAL? 5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase . . .” 1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Gathering at the structural building is Scripturally good, needful and helpful but it’s not the Church. It’s you, your PRESENCE in that place and with OTHERS that makes the building in terms “the Church and the CHURCHES” per se, otherwise it could be any hall or places of doing life also like restaurants, Office, Leisure centre etc.
“NOT FORSAKING the ASSEMBLING of ourselves together, as the MANNER of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” Hebrews 10:25.
“But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the GENERAL ASSEMBLY and CHURCH of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel” Hebrews 12:22-24.
Know for certainty, that the Church, is made up firstly, of the individual – you, then the local – group gathering otherwise called assembly and the universal body, of the born of God in Christ Jesus, under a shepherd. This is worth noting as you do life in Christ Jesus stead. Amen. The Church/Churches is/are not reckoned by denomination and affiliates but as a body, living under God in Christ Jesus stead, by the Holy Spirit lead, through the WORD of God.
Therefore, SELAH – PAUSE AND THINK for you ARE the CHURCH that Father God is building in Christ Jesus stead. Amen.
SCRIPTURAL THOUGHTS WORTH PONDERING IN CONTEXT:
“Therefore if ANY MAN be in Christ, he is a NEW CREATURE (CREATION): old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (Emphasis Mine).
“. . . 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH; and THE GATES OF HELL shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt BIND on earth shall be BOUND in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt LOOSE on earth shall be LOOSED in heaven . . .” Matthew 16:14-20.
“Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. 9 For WE ARE LABOURERS together with God: ye ARE God’s HUSBANDRY, ye ARE God’s BUILDING” 1 Corinthians 3:8-9.
“and what agreement hath the TEMPLE of God with idols? for ye ARE the TEMPLE of the living God; as God hath said, I will DWELL in them, and WALK in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” 2 Corinthians 6:16.
“Know ye not that ye ARE the TEMPLE of God, and that the Spirit of God DWELLETH in you? 17 If any man defile the TEMPLE of God, him shall God destroy; for the TEMPLE of God is holy, which TEMPLE ye ARE.” 1 Corinthians 3:16-20.
“What? know ye not that your body is the TEMPLE of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye HAVE of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore GLORIFY God in your BODY, and in your SPIRIT, which ARE God’s” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.
REV. CHUKIE MORSI