The Church: More Than a Project
This week, Teddy James talks with Jeffrey Johnson, author and presenter of The Church. Jeffrey is a pastor at Grace Bible Church and the President of Grace Bible Theological Seminary. He lives in Conway, Arkansas, with his wife Letha and their four children.
The Church started in seed form as a simple pamphlet. Jeff was later encouraged to expand and publish it as a book. This book is now The Church: Her Nature, Authority, Purposed, and Worship. The beauty of it is its brevity. The book condenses the heart of the church in just over a hundred pages.
It describes what the church is not. The church is not a movie theater, full of entertainment and utterly lacking in accountability.
The book also describes what a church is. The church is a local body of believers, the bride of Christ, the pillar and ground of truth.
We are called to submit to this local church, this body of believers. Within the church, your life is then on display to others, to encourage them, and to be encouraged or convicted as needed. If the goal of your life is to bring glory to God, why would you not want this?
The church is the one place on earth in which the truth has been deposited. Where do we find the truth? Or the gospel? Only in the church. The purpose of the church is to display the truth, bringing glory to God.
O Lord our God, we desire, with all humility and reverence, to adore you as a Being infinitely bright, and blessed, and glorious.
You have all perfection in Yourself, and are the foundation of all being, power, life, motion, and perfection.
You are good to all, and Your tender mercies are over all Your works.
And You are continually doing us good, though we are evil and unthankful.
We reckon it an unspeakable privilege that we have liberty of access to You through Jesus Christ, and leave to call You our Father in Him. Amen.
—Matthew Henry, A Guide to Family Worship
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