Why not begin operating under the idea that God has given us excess, not so we could have more, but so we could give more?

Instead of trying to conquer sin by working hard to change our actions, we can conquer sin by trusting Christ to change our affections.

I could not help but think that somewhere along the way we had missed what was radical about our faith and replaced it with what is comfortable.

As Christ begins to live in us, everything begins to change about us.

Being a member of a church means realizing that we are responsible for helping the brothers and sisters around us to grow as disciples of Jesus. In the same way, they are responsible for helping us. We desperately need each other in the daily fight to follow Christ in a world that's full of sin.

Jesus is not some puny religious teacher begging for an invitation from anyone. He is the all-sovereign Lord who deserves submission from everyone.

Somewhere along the way we have subtly and tragically taken the costly command of Christ to go, baptize, and teach all nations and mutated it into a comfortable call for Christians to come, be baptized, and listen in one location.