Nov. 18, 2013 Monday Message:
“I
appeal to you, brethren, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in
harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of
one mind, united in thought and purpose.” 1 Cor. 1:10 NLT
There
are more than two hundred verifiable Christian denominational groups in the US,
but depending upon how you define “denomination,” the total could exceed 1,000!
The obvious question is, “Why?” Don’t we all have the same goal? Didn’t Jesus
leave the same set of instructions for all of us?
You
can find elaborate graphs on the internet, that look like a complex tree with
many branches, showing how Christian groups divided and formed new entities.
Surprisingly, if you could lump all the churches together that call themselves
“nondenominational,’ they would be the 3rd largest denomination in
the US!
The
denominations disagree a lot, and put a great deal of effort into establishing
and maintaining distinctiveness from their brethren. Do you think that the
kingdom would be better served if we’d focus on what we have in common rather
than dwelling on our differences?
Next
week: What we have in common.
Norton Lawellin
Each Sunday Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) meets at 10:30am
in the North end (gym) of the Oliver Ministry Building, 2647 Bloomington Ave.,
Minneapolis. This Sunday, Nov. 24, Pastor Michael Pilla continues in Luke 18: Jesus
talks about Pharisees, Tax Collectors and Children. C U at church!
NL
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