“But Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end. Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me,
And saw My works for forty years.
Therefore I was angry with this generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they did not know My ways’;
As I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’”

“Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today,’ so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:6-13 NASB1995)

We who believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, who have denied self, died to sin, been reborn of the Spirit, who are now living for the Lord in obedience to his commands, as a matter of life practice, in the power of God, we are the “house of God.” We are his building. We are the temple of God. We are the church. Not one single physical building existing today is the church, the house of God, and the temple of God where God dwells. The church is not a building, it is not a physical location, and it is not somewhere that we go to once or twice a week. We the people of God are the church.

If we are faithful to God, and we serve the Lord Jesus with our lives, as his church, as his body, this is not dependent on us attending “church services” at a local assembly of people in a building called “church.” Especially in the times in which we now live, at least in the USA where I live, so much of what is called “Church” are businesses incorporated under the state, merged and joined with the state in unholy unions, not of God, who are marketing “the church” to the people of the world, and so they pattern their gatherings after the world in order to attract the world to their gatherings, not of God.

But we, as the body of Christ, are to gather together for mutual spiritual encouragement and exhortation, for the spiritual nourishment and maturity of the body of believers in Jesus Christ. We, as the body of Christ, are to be encouraging one another in our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord daily so that none of us will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. And we are to be speaking the truth of God’s Word to one another in love so that none of us will believe the lies of those who are teaching a diluted gospel which tickles itching ears and leaves people still entrapped in sinful addiction.

But for our gatherings to be of God, and led by the Holy Spirit, to where each body part has a part in the mutual encouragement and edification of the body, as a whole, where God can use us in our spiritual gifts and ministries, chosen by God for us, in service to him, these gatherings need to be outside the walls of these institutional “churches” which are being led by marketing schemes on how to draw in large crowds of people from the world. For the purpose of our gatherings is so that we can stir up one another to love and good works, to encourage us in our obedience to God.

So, we should meet in each other’s homes where we can each have a part in the strengthening and encouragement of the body of Christ in our walks of obedience to our Lord in holy living. But this needs to be led by the Spirit and not by some marketing tool or some prefabricated lesson written by someone else which does not permit us to do as the Scriptures teach we must do in our gatherings for our mutual encouragement and edification. Or we should get on the internet and share with one another what the Lord is teaching us from his word for our mutual edification and encouragement.

[Acts 2:14-18,42-47; Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; 1 Corinthians 14:1-5; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:15-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:12-16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20]

Send a Revival

An Original Work / June 25, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Send a revival to this nation, Lord, I pray.
Bring us to our knees, Lord, humbly today.
Teach us to daily walk in your footsteps.
Guide us in your truth, and may we find rest.
Send a revival to this nation, Lord, I pray.
Bring us to our knees, Lord, humbly today.

Be our desire and our hearts’ pure devotion, Lord.
Make us a people who walk close to you.
Change our hearts to conform to your likeness.
May we love others who are in distress.
Be our desire and our hearts’ pure devotion, Lord.
Make us a people who walk close to you.

Teach us to be an example of your love, Lord.
May we serve others as though serving you.
Keep us in fellowship with you, I pray.
May we obey you in all things today.
Teach us to be an example of your love, Lord.
May we serve others as though serving you.

We Are God’s House
An Original Work / April 9, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love