OUR CHURCH
”You will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.” Isaiah 60:18
The main purpose of the Church is to help usher people ‘back’ to God through our local and global missions. We call it missions, because salvation is our mission - our duty and reason for existence. This is why we: pray; teach; greet; worship; invite; give, even clean, all to bless people and God. Our other purpose is to bring glory to Jesus Christ. Everything we do, we do for his praise. This is what is to take place within our 4 walls (salvation) and through our gates (praise). But the church is not only a place, it is you… AND YOUR WALLS…
”You will call your walls Salvation…” Isaiah 60:18a
‘Walls’ symbolize a person’s whole life as referred to in Isaiah 49:16 - ‘I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.’ David compared his life to ‘his lot and his ‘boundary lines’ (Psalm 16:5-6). David also said in Psalm 31:15, ‘My times’ are your hands’. These are poetic ways of saying everything about our lives was formed by God and framed within His plans. When you gave your life to God, salvation became the complete covering over you. And this gift is not just for the after-life, but for all your life. Since God foreknew you would choose Him as your Savior, His salvation guides and guards you from your birth, through all of eternity. …AND YOUR GATES.
And your gates Praise.” Isaiah 60:18b
Our ‘Gates’ represent the five senses - our connection (entrances) to the world God created us for. It’s through our senses that we relate to everything physical. But we can also use our senses to relate to God spiritually, by: the beauty we see; the wonderful sounds we hear; the fragrances and tastes we experience, and anytime we are touched by genuine love. All of these are reasons to bring praise to the Lord - for His blessings and our ability to ‘sense’ them. He deserves all of our praise.
”Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess His name.” Hebrews 13:15
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