 Hi, this is Pastor David Rosales of Calvary Chapel of the Chino Valley, California. Recently, I posted what I considered a simple comment and encouragement to people to do their best to attend their home church services. It was not an encouragement for them to come to our church, though I have no policy of rejecting visitors to church, but rather a general encouragement to believers to be plugged in to their home churches. In the post, I wrote, in our day, people stay home and watch services online, often because they do not want to attend live services. By choice, they don't serve, support, fellowship, or know anyone. Is this good? Tomorrow morning, we will look at 1 Thessalonians 5, 12-14, what is a church for the answer? To be honest, I never thought I would have to address such a thing as this. Now, I almost never received more than a handful of responses to such posts, mainly because they are simple announcements and are not intended to stir any responses. But this time, there was a flurry of responses to my encouragement to be part of a home church with more than one person insisting that I was simply a megachurch pastor trying to profit off of people and was being motivated by my ego and greed. So this is the state of the church. Anger, when a brother says that fellowship and service is important for the Christian if that person truly wants to grow in the Lord. When I was saved, one of the first things I was told to do was to find a home church and to be planted in it. I was told that I needed to read God's Word, to pray, to find a good home church for fellowship and service, and to share my faith. This is Bible 101, the basics of Christianity. But perhaps in today's me first climate, the thought of actually caring about the needs of others and the value of actual relationships have been clouded by the instantaneous connections that we have through our iPhones and our iPads. Many have come under the mistaken belief that watching a church service on the screen is the same as being in the actual service and it is contributing to the depersonalization of a very personal message, the gospel, that informs us that God is actually with us. It's important to remember that the church is a community of believers, not simply a location or a building. As I survey the church, I see that many Christians are not settled into a home. Some refer to multiple places as their home for certain days or nights of the week. There seems to be a restlessness, a constant search for something new. This kind of mindset reminds me of the Athenian philosopher spoken of in Acts chapter 17, verse 21, where Luke told us that they spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing. Some question if it is necessary or even possible to have a home church. Others wonder if it's even necessary to go to church services at all. And this is not only unbiblical, it's terribly unhealthy because a church is specifically created for us to fellowship with God and with his children. And we've been told that the one who loves God must love his brother also. Immediately someone asks, are you saying that we have to go to church in order to be saved? And no, I'm not saying that at all because being a church member is not the same as being a Christian. Attending church services do not make you into a Christian. But still the fact is if you are saved, then of course you'll desire to be in fellowship with other believers. There are many believers who desire to be in a church service but cannot. There are those who are in isolated locations and unable to attend. They may be in a remote location on a military mission or even incarcerated. There are others who are battling conditions that make it very difficult for them to attend. For them, at this time, it's difficult to be around people. So they watch services online. There are those who are physically ill and unable to attend. But they would if they could. Cancer patients, those with physical illnesses, watch us online. My mom broke her back and was bedridden for the last year of her life. But she watched services online until she went to be with Jesus. All of this is understandable. And we do what we can to accommodate them in their need. The key is, if they had their way, they would be in their home church going to services. When it's possible to be part of a local group of believers, it's something that should be done. It's where it's made possible to use your gifts to pray, to serve, to have fellowship, be accountable, receive communion, be baptized. It's a community of believers. It's your church family. In the New Testament, the word church never speaks of a building or of a special place that people meet. The word church, Ecclesia, is used around 49 times in the New Testament. It means the called out ones normally speaks of an assembly or a congregation. The Apostle Peter told the church in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. We are the called out ones. We meet together with other called out ones. We are the church. Theologians have given us aspects of the church that are revealed in Scripture and have spoken of the church as the church triumphant, the church universal. They speak of the church militant, the church visible, the church invisible, and the church local. Each designation gives us different insight into what we generally call the church. So as we put together the various descriptions of the church, we can answer the question, what is the church? Well, the church is made up of believers who regularly meet to worship God through Jesus. The church is a community that proclaims Jesus as Lord and Savior. The church worships Jesus, sings praise to him, gives thanks to him. The church is organized under the leadership of pastor teachers and the church is taught God's word. The church is made up of a priesthood of believers and individually receives instructions from God's word as each reads the Scriptures, but also is taught in formal studies and services. The church celebrates baptism, participates in the ordinance of communion together. The church recognizes the need of spiritual leadership and respects the role of spiritual leaders in the fellowship. Finally, the church loves one another, serves one another, financially supports the work that is performed for the Lord in their local congregation. And this is where there's a confusion and a growing weakness with the body of Christ. Christianity has become fragmented, individualized and depersonalized. People speak of their personal relationship with Jesus and this is true. Yet they also need to remember that their faith is lived out in a community of like-minded believers. The church is a gathering of like-minded believers who love Jesus and love one another. This makes the church different than baseball teams for eternal organizations and the like. It is a community of believers that are a family in the Lord Jesus Christ. The church is not an event. It's a family that gets to know one another. When Paul closed the book of Romans, he mentioned around 36 people by name. This helps us to understand that there's an importance of being part of a church fellowship. There's a relationship with one another and together the church loves Jesus and the church loves one another. Now as is true in every family, there are family members that can be difficult to get along with. Though they may be difficult in the end, they're still family and the best thing we can do is to make sure that we remain in love with our family and to live in peace with them to the best of our abilities. Instead of running away from the family, it's always best to attempt to live in peace with them when it is at all possible. We work things out because we need each other. In the end, a person might be able to travel faster when he's alone but he always accomplishes more when he travels with others. In this journey of faith, we need to travel together to remember that the 120 were gathered in the upper room united in one accord in prayer that they together received the baptism of the spirit and that together they became the one church. We must remember that together they spilt out of that room and together they were taught fellowship, broke bread, celebrated baptism and communion and impacted a needy world. This all happened as they were together, united in one heart and prayer. In this day, more than ever, we need to remember the words recorded in Hebrews 10, 25, not forsaken the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. If you have gone through hurt, try to resolve it to the best of your ability. If you must find a new location to grow in, try to become someone who contributes to the overall health of the church family and continue growing in the Lord Jesus. Keep your eyes on the Lord and may you be blessed as you serve him. This is Pastor David Rosales of Calvary Chapel of the Chino Valley, California.