Title

The Churches Mandate

Scripture
Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, to the oppressing city! She has not obeyed His voice, she has not received correction; she has not trusted in the Lord, she has not drawn near to her God.
(Zephaniah 3:1-2)
Devotional
Here we have the mandate to the Church: We are to obey God's Word, receive correction, trust Him and draw near to Him. This we do by simply doing the good we know to do, by listening with an ear the leans toward obedience, walking by faith and offering up praise to our God. It is not one or the other, but a combination of all. Like an equation, if one aspect is wrong the whole will be wrong. Church is not to be a smorgasbord of picking and choosing what to obey, what to receive what to trust or even how to praise. It is to be a unified body of believers. For example praise and worship is often an area of conflict in the body. That is why we have praise and worship Leaders. Their job is to instruct us and lead us, as the preacher's job is to teach and correct us. As there is to be no room for pollution in the Church, there is to be no room for rebellion.