Book of The Week

One of my best friends and former college roommate is an awesome guy by the name of Travis Agnew. He is worship pastor at Northside Baptist Church in Greenwood. He also maintains an awesome blog and I pretty got my idea for this blog from him. So, I am going to further rip him off and start a book of the week section of my blog as well.

So, I read Stop Dating The Church by Josh Harris. The book is short (140 small pages, good sized font) and you can read it a few hours, which is a plus. But, Harris makes the point that people today have a fear of fully committing themselves to a church. Instead they want to "date" the church and take whatever they can from the church, all the while having their eyes on the look out for something better to come along. He admits that when you commit to a church, you open yourself to be hurt by the church and how many people are hurt deeply by churches. He also acknowledges the many problems the church can posses. But, he makes the point that we have to learn to see church as God sees the church and that is as a beautiful bride.

As I read that part of the book I remembered seeing Rebecca on our wedding day come through the doors of the church. She was amazing! I had a sense joyful anticipation of our life together. I had overcoming sense of pure love, and I would have done anything in the world for her. There was a hope that she and I would do amazing things for God . I could only wonder at the mom and the wife that she was going to be and she has never let me down yet! These feelings sum up the reason why God’s most powerful metaphor for the church is as his bride.

You see God sees our imperfections but God is exited at all that we stand to accomplish (Phil 1:6). You see God loves us (the church) with a true and real deep love. God sees us made in His image and He see us as beautiful. I believe that God in this relationship, like a good marriage can become frustrated, but he will never leave us or divorce himself from us. This is the reason Harris argues that we should love be fully committed to the church, because God is.

He also includes what kind of church to look for, when to leave a church, how to participate in church, and a great section on how to listen to a sermon and get the most of it. I loved to book and it is valuable for committed church goers, church daters, and those who are wondering if church is for them.

Happy For All The Committed Christians At Antioch Baptist Church!! Pastor Phillip