THE FOUNDATION STONE OF FELLOWSHIP

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Pastor Bob B on May 8, 2008 at 6:16am

God spoke to me and helped me to understand that there was no way I could separate myself from the body of Christ and be a healthy Christian. Just like the human body needs each member to survive, so do we need the body of Christ. There are good churches everywhere, but when we get hurt we tend to exaggerate the issue and conclude that if one church is bad then they are all bad. The church is a group of families who do life together, they are not perfect because no family is perfect, but what holds us together is Christ the head and as we cooperate with him we can have healthy church families.

The above statement was part of my response in a group dealing with;
The Modern Church: How do we compare to Biblical truth?

There are many churches and just like families every church has its own personality.

As long as they are embracing foundational Biblical truth things like music styles, how services are conducted, and even organizational structures can differ.
Every good church must have a sure foundation of Biblical truth, but can have different structures.
We need to find a church which can be a small group, or mega church, or something in between that we can fit into. We are all different and one church will be a better fit for you than some other church that might be better suited for me.

The important thing is that you find a good church and plant yourself in it so you can grow to be a fully devoted follower of Christ.

Permalink Reply by Pastor Bob B on February 16, 2010 at 2:17pm

THE BEAUTIFUL BODY OF CHRIST

Permalink Reply by Pastor Bob B on February 16, 2010 at 2:21pm

Permalink Reply by Pastor Bob B on February 20, 2010 at 6:03am

SEEING OTHERS THROUGH THE EYES OF GOD
by Bob Bushman 12-09

“Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”
(1Corinthians 13:7 NLT)

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
(Hebrews 12:2 NIV)

“Dear friends, we are now God's children, but what we will be like has not been revealed yet. We know that when the Messiah is revealed, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is.” (1John 3:2)

“For those whom He foreknew (to know beforehand) He also predestined (to predetermine) to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;” (Romans 8;2)

Here in these verses love and faith are joined to declare the awesome future that awaits us who are the children of the Most High God.

First the God kind of love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and enduring.
Why?
Because from God's eternal perspective He sees us not in our imperfect state as we are now, but He sees us as we will be in His eternal kingdom.

Jesus as the author and the perfecter of our faith could endure all that he endured including the cross because he had a faith vision of what would be accomplished.

We are God's beloved children (John 3:16-17) and what we will be has not been revealed as of yet. In other words we are not there yet, but we will be there one day. We will be conformed into His image. To the image of Jesus our Messiah.

God knows who His children are. His children are those who will respond to the Gospel and will be born again. He is outside our realm of time and space, and He is the Eternal God. He knows the end from the beginning.

God's love provokes us to see the potential in others, who are in Christ, this God kind of love will help us not to focus the imperfections that can be so difficult to over look , and we begin to see the potential that belongs to a child of God.

What if when we while raising our children all we ever did was focus on their failures? What if we always reminded them of how imperfect they are?
What if we only focused on how badly our one year old walks or talks, only focused on how they are today. This would be cruel and abusive to treat any child like this.

We know in our hearts the potential that is in that small child and we help them to enter into their potential. We encourage them, and we do everything in our power to help them.

Prayer
Father help us to see others the way you do. We repent for focusing on the weaknesses and failures of others, and for not looking at others through the eyes of love which always sees the potential of what we all will become through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. In Jesus name amen.

Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Harris on March 20, 2010 at 10:17pm

Amen, brother, we must concentrate on what edifies, and not on what destroys. We must never lose hope for a soul, but continue to pray and trust that God will move.

Permalink Reply by mary jamieson on March 23, 2010 at 5:26pm

BLESS YOUR RIGHT KNEE BOB