The Local Church and Why It Matters

Truth in Palmyra

By: John MacArthur

From: Grace To You Blog

I love the church. It’s the center of my life and has been since childhood. My father was the pastor of a church when I was born, and I grew up in the church. It’s the place where I was led to the knowledge of God, where I learned about the Person and work of Christ, and where I gained the knowledge of saving and sanctifying truth. It’s where I learned how to pray, how to sing, how to worship, how to love, and how to serve. And it was in the church that I experienced the leading of the Spirit of God directing me to a life of ministry.

I met my wife in the church. We raised our children in the church, and now our grandchildren, too. It’s where I’ve made lifelong friends and partners in ministry. The church touches…

View original post 691 more words

A House Of Prayer

“For my house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.” Isaiah 56:7, Mark 11:17 (NASB)
For some, the church building is a house of fellowship or a house of entertainment or a house of boredom. To think of it as “a house of prayer” implies that we will be active worshipers in it. We will pray for the growth of God’s kingdom and for the health of our own congregation. If our church building is truly “a house of prayer,” we will not want to bring into it any attitudes that hinder prayer. Excessive pride, jealousy, anger, thoughts of revenge — all these must be banished from our minds. If our church building is to be “a house of prayer,” we will undergird with prayer every activity that takes place in it: the preaching, the music, the Lord’s Supper, and all other areas of church life.