Last Week: Why dedicated people “get done”. -Identity Crisis -Messy Church -Falling Away… In all the “machinery” of church, we must never lose WHY we are here. Maybe you are being called to be the very thing you are searching for. The case for church. 1. The Church isn’t something you go to, it’s something you are. 2Co 6:16 For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Eph 2:19 “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household.” 2. The Church is God’s idea, not ours. Eph 1:22,23 …God placed all things under his feet and appointed (Christ) to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. Gal 3:26-28 “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Gal 4:6-7Because you are his (children), God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. 3.The Church is amazing, despite its flaws. Eph 3:10,11 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 4. The Church propels us out of self into community. 2 risks of self-centered spiritual consumerism: -We treat church like a product. You only listen to people who say what you like, sing what you like and do what you like. REMEMBER: we are not invited into God’s family to CONSUME – we are invited into God’s family to become eternally and extravagantly FRUITFUL. -We romanticize the cost of true discipleship and community. Even the “authentic New Testament church” experience was flawed and messy. Even with all our flaws, we are still better together than apart. (Eph 4:11-16) The case for church is strong. This week, prayerfully consider how we can encourage Christ- centered authentic community. What’s missing for you? What’s missing in our church? In your church experience? How can we be less “churchy” and be more like the “authentic” early church? Imagine what our church will be like as we intentionally grow closer to Jesus, and with one another!