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God Will Not Surpass the Church 1
(Mt16:16-18; Ac20:28)

God is the Lord of life (Ac3:15).
Life comes from Him (Jn1:4) and
He oversees and protects the souls that He redeemed with His blood (Ac20:28).
Faith is believing in Him and giving thanks to Him.
The life of this faith is putting every effort to live attached to Him.

Those who know themselves as humans live by
Belonging to family, school, clubs, workplace, political parties, nations etc,
Groups formed out of necessity, rights or hobbies.
Those who know themselves as souls, however, absolutely belong to the church for
The church and the soul have an inseparable relationship.

While Adam had to live by the word of God for he is a living being (Ge2:7, 16-17),
He was deceived by the devil and sinned.
Subsequently, he was banished from the Garden (Ge3:24) because
Those fallen to death are irrelevant to the tree of life.

Nevertheless, God’s will to rescue mankind was continued:
By the blood of the Passover lamb, He redeemed the Israelites from Egypt (Ex6:6, 15:13).
Following the pillar of fire and the pillar of clouds they were led in the desert (Ex13:21-22).
To extend their breath, they could not leave the rank.

The sanctuary where the ark of the testimony with a jar of manna was
Reminded them for generations that God fed them in the desert for 40 years (Ex16:33-35; Jos5:12).
The rise and fall of Israel in history was for them to know
God’s providence of intervening them with a rod and a staff (Ps23).

Yeshua said, “Destroy the temple and I will raise it again in three days,” because
Through the death and the resurrection of the temple of His body (Jn2:19-22),
He would give not only to Israel the manna that the flesh ate yet died but
All souls the true bread, the bread of life that came from heaven for them to live forever (Jn6:31-35) for
He is the Word in the beginning who became flesh and blood, that is,
Life became flesh and blood (Jn1:1, 4, 14).
He declared His plan to build His church which the gates of Hades will not prevail (Mt16:16-18), and
Through which the sheep will be saved and fed (Jn10:7-11).

As His flesh tore and He died, He said, “It is finished” (Mt27:51; Jn19:30), declaring that He:
1) With His blood purchased souls and offered them to the Father, the Lord of life who alone could lead the Son out of the darkest valley of Hades (Ps23; 1Pe1:8-19; Rev5:9);
2) Condemned the devil who stole the living being (Jn10:8; 1Jn3:8); and
3) With His blood redeemed souls, cleansed them and gave them life (Lev17:11; He9:22).

He rose and ascended to heaven and became the Lord of life (Ac3:15).
The Holy Spirit whom He sent
Calls and gathers souls in the name Yeshua and
Chooses them as His church, His body (Eph2:22).
He oversees the life He bought with His blood,
The life more precious than the heavens and the earth
So it would not be taken by the savage wolves, that is, the devil.

Yeshua = the Head of the church; the church = the body of Yeshua;
I soul = a member of His body (Eph1:22-23, 5:30).

The life-dependent relationship between the church and the soul is like that between:
1) The shepherd and the sheep (Jn10:7-15);
2) The vine and the branches (Jn15:1-8); and
3) The body and its members (Eph1:23; Rm12:4; Col1:24; 1Co12:12-31).

For the Christian, therefore,
Belonging to the church is not a matter of choice but an absolute necessity for
The church is his life, his existence itself.
As the true church treats souls as souls and watches over them,
The true Christian, even if struck by a rod
Puts every effort to remain attached to the church (Jn15:4-6) for
He longs to be found belonging to His body when the Lord returns (1Co15:23).

O Lord,
What is the church to me?
It is my life! It is my being!
For God will never surpass the church
Let us all strive to remain attached until our final breath! Amen.