Walking With JesusSample

### Relationship With the Body Know that the church consists of imperfect people who worship a perfect God. Christianity can become just another form of religion. A church can be full of rituals and ceremonies and still not represent life. It is essential to look at the fruit of both the people and the church before you join a particular church – it must be life-giving. We will be looking at a true relationship with God in the following week. It is easy to get offended when we begin to live and walk in relationship with other believers. We must guard our hearts and know that we will sometimes be challenged because we are dealing with other imperfect people. Offence is one of Satan’s biggest weapons to keep us from walking in a real relationship and trusting one another. We must realise that everyone is still growing and we should therefore walk in the grace of God. Let us not judge one another, but make room for and encourage one another to keep on following Christ. There is a spirit of lawlessness at work, telling people they do not need a local church, only to be “intimate” with Jesus. It is important that we are accountable and that we submit to the leadership in the church, as they watch out for our souls. Most of Paul’s epistles were written to leaders and local churches. He also used Antioch as the local church where he ministered from. It is important that you and I walk in the light and that we live transparently before one another. This means that there should be people who can provide counsel and speak into every area of our lives. The power of sin lives in its secrecy. Reflection questions (write your answers in a journal): * Have you ever been hurt by the people in the church? Have you forgiven them yet? Please describe. * What are the different offices within the church (Ephesians 4:11) * Why do you think it is so difficult to live a transparent life? * What are some of your weaknesses as a Christian? Action: It is now time to find one or two other Christians in your home group to be accountable to. Share with them what God is doing in your life, write down their names in your journal. Testimony: I once shared something that had really troubled me for a number of years with one of my Christian friends. He laughed it off and said it wasn’t serious and I should just get over it. This hurt me deeply and it took me a while to deal with that hurt. I didn’t trust him anymore and I doubted his motivation and friendship. When I spoke to him about it, he repented and explained that he only reacted in that way because he didn’t know how to handle the situation. It took me a while to trust others again, but I knew I had to deal with this offence, because I was the one being bound by it.