This is my third and final installment of my book report on:

“STOP DATING THE CHURCH: fall in love with the family of God”

By Joshua Harris

Salvation must include a changed life. You need other Christians to help you learn. You need other Christians you can love. We need His generous love. 

Commit yourself to a local group of saved sinners. Try to love through. Not for three months; not for six months. Do it for years!

Problems in the church aren’t the biggest obstacles. The biggest problem is us!! Going away is easy; know what is harder…..to stay!

We need to:

• Join a local church;
• Lay down our selfish desires;
• Consider others more important than yourself;
• Humble yourself;
• Acknowledge that you need other Christians;
• Invite them into your life;
• Stop complaining about what’s wrong with the church;
• Become part of the solution;
• It’s simple and life changing.  

It might not be a best-selling memoir, but it’s a story God loves to read!!

Throughout history, the church has been central to God’s purpose; it must be central to our lives. We must have a passion for the church and its people.

We all have a club which is our passion. What is yours? What do you think about, talk about, dream about? What do you give your time to without complaint? What do you find your identity in? What are you willing to sacrifice for? Are our priorities wrong or out of step?

We need to rescue Sunday.

• Prepare for Sunday. Get rid of harmful attitudes, throw out bad habits; leave behind old assumptions; and take practical steps to change the way we go to church;
• See Sunday as belonging to God; something sacred and essential. Don’t let it become routine. Build our week around Sunday.
• Get our hearts and minds ready for Sunday. Focus on God in you mind.
• Prepare your heart. Don’t become spiritually lazy. Read Psalm 19 before coming to church and Sunday School. Praise God for what you will hear and learn BEFORE you get to church.
• Walking into church, remember you are gathering with God’s people to worship God. He will present the Holy Spirit. At the service, remember you are not here to be entertained, nor are you part of the audience – you are part of a congregation standing before an Audience of ONE. It doesn’t matter how you feel or how good a singer you are, focus on the person to whom you worship or sing.
• Be careful how you hear. It is God who is talking with you. Our responsibility is to listen. The burden of Sunday morning is not on the preacher to perform, but on the congregation to listen.
• We need to be on the lookout for God and for His people. Talk with others after church. Sunday should be a day we enjoy God’s glory to the fullest.
• Listening isn’t enough; we need to apply it. We need action.
• Next Sunday during morning worship, look around and remind ourselves:  "These are my blood-bought brothers and sisters in Christ. We are His church, His people. We are here this morning to proclaim His work in our lives. We are here to give witness to the world of His great love and power and glory."

 Each Sunday we need to repeat Psalm 122:1: “Let us go to the house of the LORD!”

Are we church daters or are we married to the church?

We should love what Jesus loves. If you love Jesus, simply love His Church. Your true calling is caring about what Jesus cares about.