When Mindy Sawyer and her church friends traveled to Brazil on a short-term mission trip this summer, each individual was required to read the book “STOP DATING THE CHURCH: fall in love with the family of God” by Joshua Harris, before they traveled.

It is a small book of 128 pages, but it packs a huge punch. When Harris writes about 'the church', he is not referring to one building, nor one denomination.

In the next few weeks, I am going to share a few of the highlights with Karen's Korner readers.

Church daters are: 1)  me-centered; 2) independent; 3) critical.

God has something better for you and me than dating the church. His church was the vehicle Jesus chose to take his message to every generation. There is enough power in the church to accomplish this goal in one generation; that generation just as well be ours.

If we are not committed to the church, everyone gets cheated: 1) yourself; 2) the church community; 3) your world. Every one of six billion souls today will spend eternity in either heaven or hell. We need to help as many people as we can to hear the Good News of the Gospel.

Not only, as Christians, are we saved; He has invited us to participate in His master plan of redeeming people for His glory. It’s our duty, calling, privilege. The church is God’s greenhouse.

A daily devotional email from Joel and Victoria Osteen from one day in May of this year. Enjoy!

Don't Let Your Hope be Stolen

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)

"The enemy has a goal for your life. He wants to steal your hope and joy, he wants to make you so discouraged that you just quit and give it all up. He knows that if you get discouraged and down, you will eventually settle for less than the best, and less than what God wants from you. The right attitude and mindset will prepare you for your miracle, but that can't happen if you're down and discouraged. God may take His time to accomplish what He wants to do in your life, but you can't lose heart and allow the enemy to claim victory. God will allow everything to pass as He sees fit. Your job is to have an attitude of expectancy. The rest is up to God!"

God, I know that Your timing is not always my timing. With Your help, I want to hold on to my hope and joy today as I wait for Your answer. In Jesus' Name. Amen

A couple more highlights from the book:

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

By Joshua Harris

If we can see the church as God does, we learn the church matters to Him more than we realize and He calls and expects us to be a part of it. If Jesus loves the church, we should love it also. We might become disillusioned by the church, but Jesus will not and will never give up on it.

The local congregation does best at showing non-Christian neighbors that the new life made available through Jesus’ death on the cross is also the foundation of society. Together we can trust in, worship, and live for Jesus Christ. Here people care for one another, forgive one another, serve one another. We need to live differently than non-Christians. We need to do everything possible to keep our lights shining in a dark world.

The longer we are Christians we know that we can’t live the Christian life on our own! God has ordained that much of His grace flows through others. Hebrews 10:25 (in part):  "Let us not neglect our church meetings, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now...."  We need others; pastors need to encourage us, help us apply God’s Word to our lives, and to help us see our sins.

We need to worship together. It strengthens us and glorifies God in ways nothing else can. Many of us claim to be Christians but aren’t living a new life.

We need to know that we now walk in the light, not darkness. I John 1:7 (in part): "...if we are living in the light of God's presence, just as Christ does, then we have wonderful fellowship and joy with each other....."

~~

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.

I got this pass-along email from Diana Barron last week with the question, "Have you seen this before?' I hadn't. It is a little longer than some korners. If you have the time to read it through to the end, I think you will enjoy it:

MAGNOLIAS

By Edna Ellison

I spent the week before my daughter's June wedding running last-minute trips to the caterer, florist, tuxedo shop, and the church about forty miles away. As happy as I was that Patsy was marrying a good Christian young man, I felt laden with responsibilities as I watched my budget dwindle. . . so many details, so many bills, and so little time.

My son Jack was away at college, but he said he would be there to walk his younger sister down the aisle, taking the place of his dad who had died a few years before. He teased Patsy, saying he'd wanted to give her away since she was about three years old!

To save money, I gathered blossoms from several friends who had large magnolia trees. Their luscious, creamy-white blooms and slick green leaves would make beautiful arrangements against the rich dark wood inside the church.

After the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding, we banked the podium area and choir loft with magnolias. As we left just before midnight, I felt tired but satisfied this would be the best wedding any bride had ever had! The music, the ceremony, the reception - and especially the flowers - would be remembered for years.

The big day arrived - the busiest day of my life - and while her bridesmaids helped Patsy to dress, her fiancé Tim, walked with me to the sanctuary to do a final check. When we opened the door and felt a rush of hot air, I almost fainted; and then I saw them - all the beautiful white flowers were black. Funeral black. An electrical storm during the night had knocked out the air conditioning system, and on that hot summer day, the flowers had wilted and died.

I panicked, knowing I didn't have time to drive back to our hometown, gather more flowers, and return in time for the wedding.

Tim turned to me. "Edna, can you get more flowers? I'll throw away these dead ones and put fresh flowers in these arrangements."

I mumbled, "Sure," as he be-bopped down the hall to put on his cuff links.

Alone in the large sanctuary, I looked up at the dark wooden beams in the arched ceiling. "Lord," I prayed, "please help me. I don't know anyone in this town.. Help me find someone willing to give me flowers - in a hurry!" I scurried out praying for four things: the blessing of white magnolias, courage to find them in an unfamiliar yard, safety from any dog that may bite my leg, and a nice person who would not get out a shotgun when I asked to cut his tree to shreds.

As I left the church, I saw magnolia trees in the distance. I approached a house . . no dog in sight. I knocked on the door and an older man answered. So far so good . . . no shotgun. When I stated my plea the man beamed, "I'd be happy to!"

He climbed a stepladder and cut large boughs and handed them down to me. Minutes later, as I lifted the last armload into my car trunk, I said, "Sir, you've made the mother of a bride happy today."

"No, Ma'am," he said. "You don't understand what's happening here."

"What?" I asked.

"You see, my wife of sixty-seven years died on Monday. On Tuesday I received friends at the funeral home, and on Wednesday. He paused. I saw tears welling up in his eyes. "On Wednesday I buried her." He looked away. "On Thursday most of my out-of-town relatives went back home, and on Friday - yesterday - my children left.

I nodded.

"This morning," he continued, "I was sitting in my den crying out loud. I miss her so much. For the last sixteen years, as her health got worse, she needed me. But now nobody needs me. This morning I cried, "Who needs an eighty-six-year-old wore-out man? Nobody! I began to cry louder." "Nobody needs me!" About that time, you knocked, and said, "Sir, I need you."

I stood with my mouth open.

He asked, "Are you an angel? The way the light shone around your head into my dark living room . ."

I assured him I was no angel.

He smiled. "Do you know what I was thinking when I handed you those magnolias?"

"No."

"I decided I'm needed. My flowers are needed. Why, I might have a flower ministry! I could give them to everyone! Some caskets at the funeral home have no flowers. People need flowers at times like that and I have lots of them. They're all over the backyard! I can give them to hospitals, churches - all sorts of places. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to serve the Lord until the day He calls me home!"

I drove back to the church, filled with wonder. On Patsy's wedding day, if anyone had asked me to encourage someone who was hurting, I would have said, "Forget it! It's my only daughter's wedding, for goodness' sake! There is no way I can minister to anyone today." But God found a way through dead flowers." Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference."

Blessed are those who give without remembering....and receive without forgetting.

ALWAYS BE THANKFUL

Thank you, God, for everything –

The big things and the small,

For ‘every good gift comes from God’ –

The giver of them all –

And all too often we accept

Without any thanks or praise

The gifts God sends as blessings

Each day in many ways,

And so at this Thanksgiving Time

We offer up a prayer,

To thank you, God, for giving us

A lot more than our share….

First, thank you for the little things

That often come our way,

The things we take for granted

But don’t mention when we pray,

The unexpected courtesy,

The thoughtful, kindly deed,

A hand reached out to help us

In the time of sudden need…

Oh, make us more aware, dear God,

Of little daily graces

That come to us with ‘sweet surprises’

From never-dreamed of places –

Then, thank you for the ‘MIRACLES’

We are much too blind to see,

And give us new awareness

Of our many gifts from Thee,

And help us to remember

That the KEY to LIFE and LIVING

Is to make each prayer a PRAYER OF THANKS

And every day THANKSGIVING.

~ Helen Stiner Rice