Being the People fo God is an identity, not an event.  And most of that takes place on the 6.5 days we are NOT "in church".  The Apostle Paul and the early church show us what this looks like.

As the people of God, the church is the body of Christ but made up of many parts.  Each part does its work for the common good which makes the fullness of Jesus known out into the world AND matures the body in the Gospel.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul makes it clear that we ARE one in the Gospel, and can maintain that same oneness through the Gospel rather than our own efforts or legalism.  And when we are one, God gets the glory!

Paul picks an interesting analogy for the people of God: a body with Jesus as the head.  It's meant to indicate the power that Jesus has, but also his loving connection to his people.  Our goal as individuals and as a church is to stay connected to Jesus and the Gospel...like branches to a vine.

In Hebrews 10 the author encourages us that in the midst of struggle and turmoil to not turn back to religion, but instead rely on our relationship with Jesus to draw near to God, hold on to hope, and encourage one another.

After Jesus ascends to heaven, Peter assumes the role of being the rock of the early church that fishes for people.  And rather than trying to gain power to control a physical empire, Peter tells a new story of the power of the resurrection...and it changes the course of history.

Peter's stunning and dramatic fall is met by the even more stunning and dramatic forgiveness of Jesus.  In this story we see the incredible reversals that happen in Peter through the reconciling and restoring work of Jesus.

In the famous story of Peter's denials of Jesus, we find that Peter is actually declaring all that he is not.  And Jesus is declaring "I am".  And what Peter learns is still true for us today: that God looks at us with pure love despite all that we are not.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, as Jesus prayed in sorry, Peter slept in sorrow.  And what he learned there and teaches us is that prayer is a powerful guard against the enemy of our souls and a guide for our passions.

In John 13, Peter learns what it means to be cleansed by Jesus and to join him in serving others.  We learn that when our identity is rooted in the Gospel, we can join Jesus in serving others, too.