What Is Church? And A Weird Conversation At The Store

Tonight my family and I got together and had a Bible study. We're studying about the Truths Of The Church and I thought it would be a wonderful thing to share with you. So, if you would like to know some truths of the Church, read on. :) If you are only reading this post to find out what the weird conversation in the grocery store is, then skip to the end of this post (I highlighted it for you), but I'd like to encourage you to read the truths of the Church, also. :)

1) The Church is the people, not the building.

Scriptures concerning that:

. Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple. ~1 Corinthians 3:16-17

. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. ~Ephesians 2:22

. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. ~Acts 17:24

. 1 Corinthians 12:11-26 (I won't post this one on here, because it is quite long, but if you'd like to read it, just click on the location). :)

. What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. ~2 Corinthians 6:16

2) Go commands the Church to evangelize.

Scriptures concerning that:

. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. ~Matthew 28:19

. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ~Romans 10:14

. Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. ~2 Timothy 4:2

3) The Church is the Body of Christ.

Scriptures concerning that:

. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. ~1 Corinthians 12:27

. It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up. ~Ephesians 4:11-12

4) The Church is supposed to be united.

Scriptures concerning that:

. The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. ~1 Corinthians 12:12

. It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. ~Ephesians 4:11-13

. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. ~Galations 3:26-29

5) The Church is to consider how we are to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

Scriptures concerning that:

. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ~Hebrews 10:24

. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. ~Hebrews 3:13

6) Every member of the Body of Christ has something to contribute.

Scriptures concerning that:

. What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. ~1 Corinthians 14:26

. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. ~1 Peter 4:10

. ~1 Corinthians 12:12-31 (once again, this is the same verse as the other that I won't publish on here because it's long. So, click on the location of the scripture if you would like to read it all again:)

These are only six, so far. We'll be studying on this for a while. There are TONS of truths of the Church in the Bible. I'd like to involve all of you as well, so if you know of any scriptures that talk about the truths of the Church that I named above, feel free to share them with me!

Now I shall tell you a little about my day. I had a tiring, interesting, busy day. This morning we visited one of the Church's that has helped us out to say "thank you". After that we came home, ate lunch and mom and I headed out to go to the grocery store. Well, one of my friends is having a birthday soon, so I brought my money along so I could buy her something. First mom and I went to Wal Mart to pick up some plastic bins to set our mud boots in, then we went shopping for my friend's gift. Well, we found her a really cute purse at Payless Shoe Store (and I bought some really cute flip flops!), but I wanted to buy some little things to stick in her purse (such as necklaces, bracelets, lip gloss, earrings, etc.), so we ended going into the mall (never go to the mall on a Sunday... it was PACKED and CRAZY!). We were in and out. I bought her a few things at Claire's and then we were on our way to the grocery store. When we got there, as I was getting some bananas I heard a very interesting, weird conversation between a woman (I'd say about 30... maybe 31) and a man (idk how old he was, he looked to be about 35). The woman asked the man (who worked at the store) a question and he answered it. Then he came back with, "I'm ___" and he gave her his name, which I didn't listen to. I thought, "That was weird." Then the guy goes on to tell the woman about his friend who lives on the lake and such and all this and that he goes jet skiing there a lot. Then he said, "We should go jet skiing together sometime." The girl laughed and looked away getting more bananas. He said it again and she said, "Well, I have school-" He cuts her off with, "Maybe after your school." She then comes up with this excuse, "I don't have a jet ski." By now I'm trying really hard to contain my laughter that wanted so badly to burst out of me. The dude says, "That's okay, my friend has tons of jet skis. He has a tone in his yard. Like, seriously, he should sell some of them." The girl laughs and says, "Maybe he likes his jet skis." The guy then says it again, "We should go sometime." After that, the girl just laughed and walked away. I was then quietly laughing to myself, hoping the dude couldn't hear me. I wanted to say, "She's not interested! Can't you take a hint?!?!?!" My oh my, I have never heard a guy flirt or ask a girl out quite like that. He was totally obvious and insanely ridiculous. I mean come on?! Jet skiing? On your first date? Hello! And dude, you don't even know her! What if she was married! Though, I hope that if she was married she would have said, "Get lost, freak. I'm married." I'd probably tell him that even if I wasn't married, just to get him off my back. LOL =D Anyways, I just thought that was funny and I wanted to share it with you. :) I am very tired and should go lie down and read my library book (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief). G'night!

~Eldarwen Failariel~