'Tis A Gloo---rious Church!

[Sept5SavedTeen]

Without spot or wrinkle, and it's washed in the blood of the Lamb!
'Tis a Glorious Church
Without spot or wrinkle, and it's washed in the blood of the Lamb!

[[[Closes hymn book, claps and cues the organist to take their seat]]]

Well, praise the LORD brethen, let's turn to Ephesians 5:24-30, it says,

24Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

28So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

29For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

30For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

I am wanting to see if we could discuss for a little while verse 27, about GOD presenting to HIMSELF a "glorious church" without spot, wrinkle or any such thing.

The BIG QUESTION: Is the glorious church here now or is it in the making?

What might be some of our spots and blemishes? Wrinkles that the LORD is having to iron out? As a church as a whole? GOD is working the assemblies of course, but we can't forget the church as a whole and what GOD is doing in the church from Maine to California to India and to Kenya and throughout the whole world.

Is the Church falling short of the glorious church, currently (with her divisions and whatnot) an impediment to Christ coming back? Is the latter supposed to be greater than the former rain? People mention the church having problems since the apostle's days, but are we supposed to go further and see something that the apostles didn't see?

I look forward to a good discussion on this. This has been an interesting topic of discussion among the saints in the assembly I am apart of.

-Bro. Alex