Ephesians 4:1-6 (CEB)
4 Therefore, as a prisoner for the Lord, I encourage you to live as people worthy of the call you received from God. 2 Conduct yourselves with all humility, gentleness, and patience. Accept each other with love, 3 and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties you together. 4 You are one body and one spirit, just as God also called you in one hope. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 and one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all.
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There are lots of denominations. Someone told me the other day there are around 450 active worshiping congregations in Chattanooga. We all have different thoughts on the precise nature of how to be the church.
Yet we unite around one God, and we are all one in him. We can be different, but we're not opposed to one another, we don't need to be jealous of one another, and we shouldn't be secretly celebrating the demise of other faithful congregations. We all play on the same team, and all of our efforts and lives should join together to glorify God.
It's easy to see ourselves in competition with one another, to hope that our congregation succeeds while another stagnates. But I'm a big tent kind of guy. We all need to celebrate the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and we need to rally together to help one another. It's not about me or you or us--it's about Christ, and we all will join our hands together in the halls of heaven to praise his holy and awesome name.
If we're going to be together praising God in heaven, why not start practicing now?
Blessings
4 Therefore, as a prisoner for the Lord, I encourage you to live as people worthy of the call you received from God. 2 Conduct yourselves with all humility, gentleness, and patience. Accept each other with love, 3 and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties you together. 4 You are one body and one spirit, just as God also called you in one hope. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 and one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all.
******************
There are lots of denominations. Someone told me the other day there are around 450 active worshiping congregations in Chattanooga. We all have different thoughts on the precise nature of how to be the church.
Yet we unite around one God, and we are all one in him. We can be different, but we're not opposed to one another, we don't need to be jealous of one another, and we shouldn't be secretly celebrating the demise of other faithful congregations. We all play on the same team, and all of our efforts and lives should join together to glorify God.
It's easy to see ourselves in competition with one another, to hope that our congregation succeeds while another stagnates. But I'm a big tent kind of guy. We all need to celebrate the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and we need to rally together to help one another. It's not about me or you or us--it's about Christ, and we all will join our hands together in the halls of heaven to praise his holy and awesome name.
If we're going to be together praising God in heaven, why not start practicing now?
Blessings