Carpenter's Tools - By Pastor Wallace Phillips

This weeks message: This is the church .....

My mind often wonders back to my childhood days in the local church. I used to sit with my grandma on occasion. As we awaited the inner doors of the sanctuary to open and the choir and Pastor to enter Grandma would clasp her hands and say.."This is the church and this is the steeple; open the doors and see all the people."

The real meaning of Grandma’s little gesture reached my understanding in my adult years. The church is really the people. Paul reminded the Corinthians that "…your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you. You are not your own…". He informed them that they were the real temple. The building is just a place to gather and worship. The true house of God is the people of God who have been changed by his awesome grace.

That makes the worship service begin when you and I arise each day. It’s not an "eleven o’clock" deal. That’s just a by product of our being the temple of God. We get to gather on the Lord’s day to encourage one another and hear God’s man speak to us for instruction and challenge.

Go ahead…put your hands together and go through that little motion. Let the reality of the true house of God come to your mind. You are the church! You are the temple. You are the house of the living God. In the Old Testament God had a temple for His people, but in the New Testament, God has a people for his temple.

Have an awesome week and serve the Lord with gladness. Visit me on the web at http://www.wallacephillips.org/.