lalilo said:
A true church would be a united church following the word of God, united in its purpose and beliefs and fill with the present of the holy spirit..
red said:
The church is made up of all blood bought born again believers where ever they are.
I think the two of these quotes fit together fairly nicely.
There really is no point in being a church if the church isn't doing it's job (i.e. showing the values of the kingdom of heaven to the rest of the world).
Luk 8:1 And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve [were] with him,
I like this verse because it talks about preaching, but then it also talks about
showing the glad tidingsof the kingdom of heaven. People need to SEE that the (or "a") church really does have something to offer.
Everyone in the world knows that if you want to hear preaching you just go to ANY church regardless of denomination. But if they want to find people who are willing to work for love 7 days a week helping one another just because they want to help, where do they go? I've not seen any churches doing that.
But that's what Jesus and his followers did. That's what the believers in acts, who sold everything they had, shared all things in common, and preached the gospel full time did and look at what kind of response it drew from the world around them...
Act 17:6 And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;
What a fantastic witness for the kingdom of heaven, and yet it certainly didn't come through preaching alone!
I believe that is the kind of faith that the world needs to see today but where is it? After telling a story about a widow who went to extreme measures to get what she wanted Jesus said
Luk 18:8 ... Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
What a said commentary on the people of this world from our Lord and Saviour. Where are the Christians with enough faith to just do what Jesus said; even the really hard stuff like forsaking all, living by faith, and going into all the world to preach the gospel?
When you see a church doing that (not just a few "special" people in the church with a congregation paying tithes to them to do all the hard work for them), then you will have seen "A" true church on this world.
So, anyone here wanna give it a try?