Jeremy Johnson - I Love My Church - Guardians Are Back

As we continue this series, "I Love My Church," we dive deeper into what the First Church looked like and how we are called to be a family through thick and thin. This week, pastor Jeremy also teaches us what it's like to be a Guardian in God's Kingdom. What is church? It's a family with a Father, and it's alive. In a family you're going to have to get messy at times and roll up your sleeves and protect one another. At the center of what God loves, he rules the Church. Jesus is the head of the Church, and we are the body. When we start becoming the Church, we fall in love with it and with that, with that we might need to realign from time to time when times get hard.  In this family, God's going to ask you to remove certain things from your life but will always replace it with something better. He may ask you to put off bitterness and put on forgiveness. Leave pride behind and gain humility. We will be called to leave behind selfishness, disrespect and impatience and put on self-denial, honor for authority and patience.  To be a Guardian is to be a 1) Defender 2) Protector 3) Keeper of God's Fire "The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously: it must not go out." Leviticus 6:13  As Guardians, we are going to tend, defend, protect and keep the flame going as God brings new power and life though what we bring to the altar. We are called to be worshippers and warriors and we bring the fire with us through sacrifice.