sermon2

Christians United Fellowship

Chapel

How Big is Your Church?

I'm certain that many people are asking, "What kind of question is that?", but I assure you, it is an important question. The need for it arises from the fact that there are too many Christians who consider the church building to be the only place where they must worship God and do the works they were called to do. I hadn't thought too much about it myself until I was invited to minister at the opening of a new church building in a small community. When I prayed about it, the Lord said (in a still, small voice) "How big is your church." I knew what He meant, and I proceded to build my message on that statement.

It is true that the first time Jesus ministered, and countless times thereafter, was in a temple. But He did not limit his teaching and ministering to temples. In fact, the bulk of the people He reached were ministered to in the wide open spaces, under God's open skies. Consider the "Sermon on the Mount". Thousands of people received the basics of the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the slopes of that mount.

Wherever He went, Jesus taught people: from a boat on the surface of the sea; from the side of a mountain; by a well; in the streets and highways, and anywhere else he travelled. In other words, his ministry was never limited to buildings...his ministering was never limited at all. He taught not only by word, but by action and deed. People received his teachings who might never have set foot in a church.

Consider the apostle, Paul. Do you suppose he would ever have gone to church to do anything but persecute believers. It is doubtful. But the Lord stopped him in the middle of the road, and changed his entire outlook on life. Thank God that this action was not put off until Paul (Saul at the time) was sitting in a church meeting seeking truth.

Now let's think about our own lives. Do we represent the Lord when we are at work, enjoying leisure, travelling, or mingling with society? Are we afraid to mention his name unless we're in the church building? Does our worship, and our study and our discussion of Him and his ways end when we walk out the church doors? If this is the case, then we need to engage in some serious changes in our livestyles. We need to remember that, as Christians, we are always in church.

There is one extremely important thing that we must, as Christians, all remember. It is found in the last two verses of the Book of Matthew:

28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. AMEN.

How Big is Your Church?