Churches That Give Life

Preface

Jesus said that one of the reasons He came was to give us life, a more abundant life. So passionate was He to give us this life that He went to the cross to purchase it and has given us the Holy Spirit so we might live it. The apostle Paul made it clear in his letter to the church at Rome, especially in chapters 6 to 8 that this life was on the other side of death. Just as the victory of the resurrection life of Jesus was after the cross so it is with us. The more abundant life that Jesus promised we could experience comes after our dying to self not before it. The Christian life is not God helping us to be good; it is a brand new, never before experienced, life that has its origin in God. It is a completely different way of living. It is so different that there is nothing in our old life that is of any use to us in living our new life. Gal 2 v 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

This book has been written to help Christians build churches that give spiritual life, abundant life, to their congregations. The church belongs to Jesus not us and He is the one who builds it. Although it is right that we should use every means at our disposal when we preach the Gospel to get people saved and to teach the word to build up those already saved our methods have no life in themselves. The Holy Spirit is the only one who can give divine life to either the saved or the unsaved and without Him all our efforts are useless. Ps 127 v 1 Unless the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. Our Heavenly Father is the one who initiates everything we do just the same as it was in the life of His Son while He was here on earth. Jesus brought life because he did things God’s way. I only do what I see the Father doing and I only say what I hear the Father saying was the root of all His works. Not my will be done but your will be done applies to how we build and organise our churches just as much as it does to our individual lives.