Is the Church Building a Church?

Is the Church Building a Church?
(Taken from: Church of God Doctrines -1979 ed.)

By: Bro. Cecil C. Carver
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The meeting house, or the church house as it is commonly called, is for the "church" to assemble in. It is not the church. God does not live there all the time like He did in the temple at Jerusalem. Today He lives IN THE HEARTS OF HIS CHILDREN, and when they come to meeting THEY BRING HIM with them.

"He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." John 6:56.

"Ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." John 14:17b.

"Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God." I John 4:15.

"If we love one another, God dwelleth in us." I John 4:12b.

"But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." Rom 8:11.

"...Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them...." 2 Cor 6:16.

"That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us." 2 Tim. 1:14.

"...the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands." Acts 7:48.

"Abide in me, and I in you...He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit..." John 15:4,5.

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." I Cor. 3:16,17.

So, we see that where two or three of God's called out children come together we have a local unit of the church of God. A saved man or woman is in the family and when more than one is present in the name of the Lord, He is there; and thus, God has a working, active, visible, local church. Saved man and women do not go to "church," but when saved men and women go to meeting, they automatically constitute a church. The meeting house is a place where the "church" assembles.





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