[MikhailianInception]

Originally Posted by aron

May God bless your journey of faith. Jesus Christ shines forth in brilliant glory. One of my favorite verses is Hebrews 2:9. "But we see Jesus, made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honour". His time on earth was short, but he reached out to the poor, the weak, those who had nothing, even less than nothing. Remember the woman who was bleeding, and she gave all her money to the doctors who could not heal her? Now she was bleeding, with no resources. But she had faith and reached out. Scripture shows us this Jesus, made lower than the angels, touchable, if we would reach out by faith.

(Now if that sounds subjective I suppose it is, but focusing on Jesus leads to our reaching out. Focusing on our subjective reaching out leads to error)

1 Peter 1:21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

Our focus can be on this One. God raised him from the dead and gave him glory. He lowered himself, and was poured out in offering for our sins. Now God has raised him and given him glory. I see nothing else. Paul said, "I was determined to know nothing else, whilst I was among you", and to me this is the kind of thing he referenced. Abstractions and principles have limited utility.

And to those words, I say "Amen" Brother! A church that gets you to commit to the church rather than Christ is no Church at all. If we neglect the poor, then we are not truly identifying with Christ. I believe that the Church is not the end in itself. But, the Bride is the signpost to which we are pointed to Her Husband - Christ Jesus Himself!