Do we have life? In our search for how to do church, is church the right word and the many conflicts we run into in dealing with our relationship with Jesus and His kingdom; what really matters is do we have life? We are so busy in trying to be right, but we have lost the basics, the most important things on which Jesus built His assembly.
Obeying the commands of Jesus
Loving one another
Being in union with one another
Fellowship that is meaningful for the growth of the body.

We can't start with doctrine and work down. We must start with the foundation and work up. There are so many conventions and books out there, what are they asking us to obey or do? Isn't obedience to His word enough? Aren't we trying to model something that had life? The early assembly did not have a perfect model on how to meet etc., they simply followed Jesus. Wasn't Jesus command to "take up your cross and follow me" the bottom line? If we truly were dead to the self life and full of the resurrected life we would not need a model (something mechanical) but we would express and be an experssion of His life as Jesus was an expression of the Father. We are always looking for something that is right... the right belief, the right model, the right doctrine...and we have not advanced the Kingdom of God one inch.

Well did James say, "Be doers of the word and not hearers only." and Jesus statment, "why do you call me Lord and you don't do what I say." If we just obeyed Jesus and not our desires, our self life or somebody's book; we would be in harmony with God and one another. As long as we are seeking formulas for church and seeking better ways to have church, we will never get there.

We need to start with Him being the Lord of His kingdom if we are going to have life.
Andy