“Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.”
—Hebrews 10:24
The church is the only organization that Jesus started. Jesus said He would build the church “and all the powers of hell will not conquer it” (Matthew 16:18 NLT). Every believer needs to be an active part of the church, because it is where we learn about God together.
It’s where we worship together, find accountability to one another, and discover and use our spiritual gifts. We simply cannot be the Christians God has called us to be without being part of the church.
Hebrews 10:24 tells us, “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works” (NLT).
The J. B. Phillips translation of this verse says, “Let us think of one another and how we can encourage each other to love and do good deeds.”
My objective has never been to have a big church. My objective has always been to have a strong church and, even more to the point, a biblical church. However, if a church is not growing numerically, then something is wrong.
There should be church growth, and the best kind of growth is from new believers coming in. In fact, show me a church that doesn’t have a constant flow of new believers, and I will show you a church that is stagnating. We have a choice before us as the church, and that is to either evangelize or fossilize.
However, there are people who are disillusioned by the church today. In fact, it has become trendy to critique the church.
Now, do I think the church is perfect? No. Do I think the church has flaws? Yes. But the Bible says that Jesus loves the church. Therefore, I would never speak critically of that which Jesus loves. Jesus established the church, and we are to be part of it.