How are we to know who should lead the church, and what should their leadership look like?

The Church is the dwelling place of God on the earth, therefore we are to remain pure and holy. How can we help one another with this, dealing well with impurity amongst us, building one another up and ensuring Jesus is the cornerstone of all we establish at River City?

Jesus speaks of those he loves as his sheep, and of himself as the Great Shepherd. In Acts Paul tells those leading the church that they too are shepherds, charged with guarding the flock that God has entrusted to them. What does it mean for us to be sheep led by a shepherd, are we familiar with his voice, how can we lead the church like good shepherds?

In this story Jesus performs his first miracle, turning water into wine. But there is so much meaning in the miracle Jesus chooses. He is showing that he is providing new wine, that the feast is ready (Isaiah 55) and that in the church he is providing a new wineskin that is better than the old. The church is a new covenant people, the new Israel, and we must be filled with the new wine – no longer law but grace, no longer sacrifices but the blood of Jesus, no longer distant but brought close.

One of the ways Jesus teaches us who we are is by using the imagery of a vine, and the grafting in of new branches. If you understand this process it involves taking a branch from another plant (without any roots of its own) and connecting it to a thriving complete plant. The grafted in branch is completely dependant on the plant for it’s life! The resulting fruit created is of an entirely different variety to the fruit previously produced by that branch as it is changed by being part of the new plant. In t

Jesus so closely identifies with the church that when he firsts meets Paul and confronts him over his persecution of Christians he asks him "Why are you persecuting me?" We are Christ in the flesh to the world today. How does this affect how we treat the church and how we act as a people?

The Church is not a human creation, it was not just a good idea in the 1st Century and maybe something better will come along soon. The church is the creation of the eternal God and is part of his eternal plan. The church will last forever! We need to understand that the church is something God has given us to steward, not to own.

The great thing about being thankful to God is that he never stops giving us more to be thankful for. We are to be a people set apart from the world because of our thankfulness, it is what makes us different and shows the world who God is, which leads them to worship and thank him with us, for all of eternity.

Jesus died and rose again that many sons and daughters may receive an eternal inheritance. What an incredible truth to remember this Easter and to give thanks for!

When thanking God, use words! Gos loves to hear our prayers of thanksgiving, and even more wonderfully, he loves to answer our prayers.