Why Jesus Values the Church: Prioritize His Body

Because you chose it over church. You chose that over God. Something he didn't die for. Why is this so important, pastor? Why do want us to be in church all the time? Why do we have extra services? Why do you hope that we come to those as well? Why why do those things matter? Because it's just the thing that Jesus died for to establish in our life. I'm not saying the other things are even quantitatively bad in of themselves, but they just don't have the same value. [01:09:54] (31 seconds)  #ChurchOverEverything

And therefore, we have a church to come to where we can talk about him and praise his name and tell others about him and learn things about him that would cause us to draw closer to him. All of it focuses on the cross. Have you considered the cross? died for our church. Church matters because of what it cost Jesus. Church is a big deal because it costs Jesus his blood to give us a place and to give us a message. [01:06:11] (39 seconds)  #CrossCenteredChurch

And Jesus says to him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest almost like he took it personally. almost like Jesus said, you're attacking my believers and you're attacking their faith and you're attacking their ability to organize together as I want them to. Why are you persecuting me? Jesus is kind of inserting himself into this. Why? Because he takes personal ownership of it. It matters to him. It's his. It's his baby. He birthed it. He died for it. He gave us the message and he said, oh, you're coming after me now. You go after my church and you go after the people who are following me. You're coming after me. [01:13:45] (47 seconds)  #JesusOwnsHisChurch

If you were about to if you were dating somebody that you truly loved and you were going to meet them and propose to them and you had the ring and you had the dinner reservations and you had the special date planned and you, sir, got a flat tire, would you let that thing keep you from getting to that date? I don't think so. You would rent a car. You would call an Uber. You would get a taxi. You would borrow a friend's car. You would change a tire faster than you ever changed it in your life because you're going to do something that was really important to somebody who really mattered to you. Right. Right. Right. [01:02:24] (33 seconds)  #GoTheDistanceForChurch

You need to apply that to your thinking concerning church in your life. Are you valuing it as Jesus values? We're supposed to be followers of him, Christian. That means I want his heart. I want his mind, and I want to value things as Jesus values them. Jesus did not purchase some junk, some trinket to just be tossed aside. He purchased the lives, and he purchased the message of a physical entity, a place where we can gather together so that God would be magnified. And Jesus thought that was important enough to die. [01:11:11] (51 seconds)  #ValueChurchLikeJesus

You've gotta love the head of the church more than the weather, more than your energy level, more than if something there appeals to you. Does Jesus appeal to you? Amen. You love the head of the church because that's why you're going. You're going for him. You're going because he loves it. You're going because he died for it. His word is there. The praise that we give to him in song is there, and the holy spirit that teaches us about him is there. Amen. [01:19:22] (35 seconds)  #LoveTheHeadAttend

Why go back? He didn't do anything for you. Why go back? Why? Because of how Jesus feels about the church. And I love him. And I love what he's done for me. And I have found in my life that every single thing that Jesus has established for me in my life has been for my good. It has helped me. It has benefited me. It has made my life better. And therefore, I should probably buy into it. And the more I go in, the more I get out. [00:59:50] (31 seconds)  #ChurchIsForYourGood

But we'll commit to a lot of things, yet we hesitate to commit to the church that Jesus died for. Well, if I can, pastor, if can get to it, if I'm able to, we'll see. Amazing. I'll try. Commitment is tough in this day and age. That's not the attitude of our Lord. It's not the attitude of our savior. Jesus was continually pushing us and pointing us to this throughout the New Testament. His voice and his message and his memory of his time here on the earth and all of the things about who Jesus was. Jesus never minimized the church. [00:55:52] (49 seconds)  #CommitmentToChurch

If you were about to if you were dating somebody that you truly loved and you were going to meet them and propose to them and you had the ring and you had the dinner reservations and you had the special date planned and you, sir, got a flat tire, would you let that thing keep you from getting to that date? I don't think so. You would rent a car. You would call an Uber. You would get a taxi. You would borrow a friend's car. You would change a tire faster than you ever changed it in your life because you're going to do something that was really important to somebody who really mattered to you. Right. Right. Right. You're getting the mindset here now. Right. I care about church because of how Jesus feels about church. It's not even necessarily about what I get out of it. It's not even necessarily about what it can do for me or who will I meet or or how much will I make or all these things. Those don't matter. If I focus on those things, they're fleeting, they're changing, but God's mindset about the church is not changing. Gotta get into his mindset. Jesus magnified the church. [01:02:23] (67 seconds)

What will get you to church when it's not convenient? What will get you to church when you go outside and you've got a flat tire and you race to change the tire as fast as you can so you don't miss church. Yeah. Instead of saying, well, I just can't go to church today. I can't. Boy, that hit home. No. You see the mindset. If you were about to if you were dating somebody that you truly loved and you were going to meet them and propose to them and you had the ring and you had the dinner reservations and you had the special date planned and you, sir, got a flat tire, would you let that thing keep you from getting to that date? I don't think so. You would rent a car. You would call an Uber. You would get a taxi. You would borrow a friend's car. You would change a tire faster than you ever changed it in your life because you're going to do something that was really important to somebody who really mattered to you. Right. Right. Right. You're getting the mindset here now. Right. I care about church because of how Jesus feels about church. It's not even necessarily about what I get out of it. It's not even necessarily about what it can do for me or who will I meet or or how much will I make or all these things. Those don't matter. If I focus on those things, they're fleeting, they're changing, but God's mindset about the church is not changing. Gotta get into his mindset. Jesus magnified the church. [01:02:03] (87 seconds)