Let the Church Stand Up

Ephesians 3:7-13 It is long since time for the church to stand up, see the bigger purpose and learn to be what God purposed her to be. It is through the church that God's plan of the ages is worked out. The mystery of God's plan is being unfolded before the angelic hierarchies. Through Adam and Eve, it was a world plan. Satan thought he destroyed it in the "fall" as the first couple sinned. God picked up the thread in Abraham, a man who listened, believed and obeyed. So, He continued in His people Israel. In Jesus Christ the sin problem was taken care of opening the path to reconciliation with God. At Pentecost, God begins to live in His people in the person of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2). In Col. 1:26, The mystery is revealed as "Christ in you, the hope of glory." In our Scripture today, it is through the church that the gentiles are included in God's plan. It again becomes a world plan. The infinite manifold wisdom of God's plan, that He have a people that worship, love, and serve Him, because they desire to do so. The church is not the building, but a vast body of peoples who have entered into a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. It is as this body is gathered together that the plan of God is demonstrated to the world and to the heavenly realms. It would be sad indeed for church bodies to finally discover that in their fighting, and showmanship, that they had missed God's plan. It is my prayer that we not miss God's plan here at Praise Baptist Church. That we become and continue to be a body of people, large or small, that is hopelessly in love with Jesus and one another. And that people who visit us and those who view us from the outside as a body or as individuals will see that this love is real and demonstrated. They don't need to like it, but they do need to be able to see it. Let's stand up!