2. Why Membership? The beauty of local church membership

3. Why do we need to become members? We cannot divorce our spiritual membership from our physical membership

4. Universal or Local ? Universal Church: every true born-again believer across the world Local Church: professing born-again believers who meet together for worship

5. Universal or Local ? Universal Church: every true born-again believer across the world Local Church: professing born-again believers who meet together for worship 

6. Universal AND Local! Local Church Members Universal Church Members

7. Universal AND Local! Every part of the True is reflected in the mirror

8. Why do we need membership? 2 common good arguments:

9. Why do we need membership? 2 common good arguments:  The New Testament church had a form of membership

10. Why do we need membership? 2 common good arguments:  The New Testament church had a form of membership  Membership is practically wise

11. God and Israel

12. Exodus 19:17-20 And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. Then the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

13. God and Israel Exodus 19:18-19 Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”

14. God and Israel Exodus 25:8 let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them

15. God and Israel Exodus 25:22 And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony

16. Jesus, Greater than the Temple “…one greater than the temple is here” Matt 12:6

17. Jesus, Greater than the Temple “…one greater than the temple is here” Matt 12:6 John 1:14, The Word became flesh and dwelt among us

18. The Beauty of the Church

19. Church: Ekklesia  An assembly of people, a gathering Etymology Ek: Out from Kaleo: Call  Literally, “the called-out, assembled ones”

20. The Beauty of the Church 1 Timothy 3:14-15 I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

21. The Beauty of the Church 1 Timothy 3:14-15 I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. The local church is the ONE household of the Living God

22. The Beauty of the Church 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. The local church is the ONE household of the Living God

23. The Beauty of the Church 1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 1 Peter 2:5 you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. The local church is the ONE household of the Living God

24. The Beauty of the Church Ephesians 1:22-23 … [God] put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

25. The Beauty of the Church Ephesians 1:22-23 … [God] put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. 4:11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ

26. The Beauty of the Church The local church is the ONE place where the World will find the Living God

27. The Beauty of the Church the ONE place where the World will find the Living God Ephesians 4:15-16 …, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

28. The Beauty of the Church the ONE place where the World will find the Living God Ephesians 4:15-16 …, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

29. The Beauty of the Church

30. The Beauty of Membership Each member affirms their part in being that touch-point between the spiritual and the physical – the family of the Living God – the ONE place where the world will find Him. They are only acknowledging that they’re ALREADY members of Christ, one day to be gone, but for now running the race He has set out before them.

31. The Beauty of Membership Psalm 84:1-2,10 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. … a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.