Counsels on Church Life

Counsel #7 — To Meet With God

Picture: Counsel #7 — To Meet With God CCL 94.1

What if someone at church offends you or hurts your feelings?^[124] CCL 94.2

Although such an experience can be disillusioning and disappointing, it helps to remember that we go to church to meet with God — to experience Him! We go to church to worship Jesus through music, prayers, and biblical teaching. We go to church to encourage others in their faith and help to provide a loving community of supportive believers in Christ. Just walking in the door puts you in a place where God can fulfill His promise to provide you comfort in His presence, because He has promised to inhabit His house of prayer. CCL 94.3

“Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.” Exodus 25:8 CCL 94.4

“God has a church upon the earth who are His chosen people, who keep His commandments.… The truth is a sanctifying power; but the church militant^[125] is not the church triumphant. There are tares among the wheat…. The gospel net draws not only good fish, but bad ones as well, and the Lord only knows who are His.” Ellen White in Counsels to the Church, p. 240 CCL 94.5

Reflect: If you had a friend that had been hurt by an unloving church member, how might you help and encourage your friend to see Jesus, not people, as the focal point of church worship? CCL 94.6