Grace for Your Day July 5

The word “commitment” has fallen on hard times today. It has fallen on difficult times because many people church hop like it is going out of style. They change churches at the drop of a hat because, if they do not like one, they simply go to another. If they do not like what their church is offering, they simply leave it to go someplace else.

It also needs to be said that, when they come to church, most are more interested in what they can get out of it than what they can give to it. They want to know what the church is going to do for them rather than what they can do for it because they approach the church like a consumer. They approach it like a shopper buying a car because they want to what is in it for me. They want to know if it will meet their expectations before they commit which raises the question: “Is God okay with that?” “What does He tell us about how we should approach the church?”

I ask this because, according to a recent Barna Study, 1 out of 3 people will not return to church after COVID-19. They would rather stay home and leave it behind. The study also revealed that 14 percent say that they will change churches during the pandemic as well. They will leave one church to go to another which makes you wonder if that is the right thing to do. It makes you wonder what the Bible would say about that which is what we are going to talk about this week at Grace Fellowship Church.

This Sunday, we are going to talk about why you should join a church. We are going to talk about why it is important to commit to one because we are at time of transition in our sermon time. We are at a turning point between two series because we have just finished our study of the Book of Ephesians. We have just wrapped it up and we have not started our next study yet so I wanted to take this time to talk about a subject that is on everyone’s mind. I wanted to take this time to address an issue that a lot of people are wondering about and that is the church.
In order to do that, we are going to look at the following topics:

• “Why Join a Church?”
• “What is the Church?”
• “Why is the Church Necessary?”
• “What Does the Church Do?”

This material is from a sermon series that I did when I first came to GFC entitled “Foundations of the Church” but I thought it was important enough to repeat it here. It was important enough to go through some of it again because the church has a special place in the Bible. It has a special place in the heart of God because it is the only institution that Jesus promised to build (Matthew 16:18). It is the only institution that He promised to keep safe from the hands of the Devil so we need to take some more time to understand it.

This week’s sermon will be preached at our 8:30 and 10:00 services. It will also be available Sunday morning on our You Tube Channel and website for all who cannot be with us in person. Please join us as we take a look at this most important topic. Join us as we learn why the church is so precious to God. – Jeremy Cagle