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WHO IS THE CHURCH FOR?

Our belonging comes from the Lord, Who alone is our salvation. He is the One Who calls us; He moves us to seek Him, and so we find He has been seeking us. He gives us the grace of repentance to turn from self-reliance and sin and so to turn to Him. He is the One causing our believing Jesus Christ to be all He is and to receive all He has done. He becomes life within us. His Light and Life supplant the darkness and death of sin that once reigned in us and held us in slavery.

Truth is, no one belonged. All we like sheep had gone astray; we had, each one of us, turned from God to go our own way, a way whose end was death and separation form all goodness and hope. The Lord Jesus causes us to belong. He has taken upon Himself our sin and death and gives us His own Life, His Spirit to permanently dwell in us with the Power and authority to live the new Life He has given to us.

So, who is the church for? It is there, called into being by the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, for all who will believe, so we might live a new Way, a new Life. The church is for those who need the salvation of God. Is anyone outside that definition? No! God has made a way for us to see ourselves, the deadness of our own rebellion in sin. He gives repentance and faith to trust what He has completed in Jesus Christ. He enables us, by grace through faith, to respond to His initiative. Salvation is of God alone. The church is the Family of God. The door is open to all who will believe.

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