SCRIPTURE: Acts (NIV) 15:13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshipper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.
OBSERVATION: The church has never needed a building to have a place of prayer or a place to sing to the Lord! In the city of Philippi, believers met on the bank of a river and later Paul and Silas had church in the inner prison with their hands and feet in stocks. As the church lives its daily life out in the open people can hear and see what God is doing.
The building is not a church just as a house is not a family. The building is where the church meets just as the house is where the family lives.
APPLICATION: While church buildings are a blessing and allow for many different avenues of ministry, we sometimes forget that the church’s best ministry usually happens outside the building. It is a family praying over their meal in a restaurant. It is praying in the yard with a neighbor who has recently experienced a death in their family. It is what is overheard as two believers stop to chat in the marketplace. It is how the believer handles the difficult boss at work.
PRAYER: Lord, being a part of your church does not start when I enter a building or stop when I leave. I carry your Presence with me everywhere I go. Holy Spirit help me to live the truth! Amen
Pastor Leon
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