Quite often, at a funeral, I will say something like, “the body you see here is just the shell. The real person is not here, but with the Lord.” I know leaving this building will not be an easy task for many of you. You have known no other church building and your life includes many memories and experiences with this building. Not being here on Sunday morning, but in the new building will seem strange to you. But be of good cheer, the strangeness will go away, and a fondness for the new building will take over.
Let me remind you of a few things.
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We are moving because God is blessing us. We have gained 139 new members in the past seven years, and gained an average in Sunday School attendance from 62 in 2005 to 84 last year. We have baptized 51 new Christians into the family of God. Remember the story of the 12 that kept the church open in the early 70’s?
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God is blessing us, and He is leading us. The new church building is a gift from God for us to use in service to Him. It means nothing to have this building with all it’s fancy fixtures and equipment, all it’s room, if we are not using it to grow the Kingdom of God.
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It is an understatement to say that TR has always done things a little differently. We take pride in who we are, more than where we are. If we met to worship in the gazebo, someone would say, “Well, that is TR for you!” They would be right. “WE” are TR, not the building.
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Historically, the church building was called the ‘meeting house.’ The church is the people. As we leave this building, we will continue being TR and doing the things TR does. We will worship together, fellowship together, and pray together in the new location. God will still hear and bless us.
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Looking ahead, there will be lives changed here, just as they have been in the other locations. People will be won to faith in Christ. Unrepentant hearts will be melted by the power of God’s Spirit. Sins will be confessed and forgiven. The uneasy places we travel in our fellowship, the growth pains, the hurdles we face will all be crossed by the grace of God. Broken hearts and broken families will be healed. The same miracles that occurred in the old buildings will be done in the new one. That is because the church building is the shell; WE are the church, and God is still our head.
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The same God that was with us yesterday is with us today and will be with us tomorrow.