Having your conduct honourable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation”
1 Peter 2:12

Many of us know and have experienced the powerful impact of the Media today. It has reached a saturation point in our present age that what is spoken of and shown on the various news channels seems to have more impact on culture, elevating its perceived truth above and beyond the absolute truth of the Word of God. People tune in to these various sources hoping to gain understanding of world conditions, looking for a cause to follow, or a purpose and meaning for existence. Many folks depend on media content to aid in making those all important decisions for life!

There is a great deception that the time in which we live is that a person has to be prominent or visible to be influential. Jesus taught quite the contrary. We read about Jesus standing on a rural hillside with a few thousand farmers, fishermen, carpenters and other men and women of humble background, Jesus pronounced them as the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world.” Mat 5:13-16.

Jesus is bringing the same message to you and I today. We are valuable and worthy in His eyes, created as His workmanship for a lifetime of good works that will demonstrate the reality of the Kingdom of God to a blind and captive world.

1 Peter 2:4 Jesus Christ is referred to as a “Living Stone”, and Christ-followers are called “living stones”. It seems difficult to imagine a stone as living. Looking at this a little deeper – We grow in the Lord when we ingest His Word, we are challenged each day as we are reminded of our salvation, then to admit that if there is sin in our lives - it needs to be removed, - all of this activity so that we can refocus on the graciousness of God. Peter exhorts us to be intentional and determined in our devotion, coming to the Lord as in worship, coming near is present tense therefore it means I come personally and repeatedly. Jesus invites us to come because we have a tendency to labour, we tend to be laden with life’s challenges –Good News for us: Jesus said “Come to Me, I will give you rest”!

With that thought in mind, our relationship was never meant to stay private even though it is personal. You are called personally but for that to be fruitful, it has to be worked out in community with others. All of us are to do life, not separately but together, to love and lean on each other. I can apply all the promises of God to my life, but if its going to be effective, it has to be fleshed out in my particular community. In other words, “Bloom where God has planted you”! Taking it further, it means we are to be interdependent, many want independence from others, from responsibilities, from interaction, from obligations, etc – BUT that's not your role as a human being, we are meant to support, to encourage each other, to interact, we are living stones, a family with a foundation and called to be a people of purpose and destiny!

A living stone should not be silent, Jesus said in Luke 19 that if the people are contained, or quieted by the religious, He said the stones will cry out, meaning: His Living Stones! The Kingdom of God is built with Living Stones. That means the church is more than an organization, it is a collection of Living Stones, building and supporting one another with Jesus Christ as the Head of the Church. Thinking again of being interdependent, if you pulled a stone out of the foundation of your home, it would be unstable, not complete. As for the church, if the congregants began to “cool of” towards the things of God and began to forsake the assembling of the saints, it would affect the entire structure.

There is a growing divide between the “Church-ed” and the “Church-less”, the result is a shift from faith-based Christ devotion giving way to secularism void of God and truth. The result of this shift is that people do acts of kindness, giving superficial recognition to God when in need but no real sense of connection - certainly no tangible relationship with the Living God. People are self focused at this point in history. However, I believe that an end time church is about to emerge, the WORD states that the Lord will build His Church, His Way, His Timing and with His Living Stones. There may be reams of research conducted as to the status and shifts of the church - but let me say this: God will have a gathering of people who are the church, connected to each other, it will be a place of communion – not a fortified structure that only allows certain people to enter. Anyone who believes they can live a flourishing Christian life without interacting with a Bible Believing Gathering is living a false Church-less so called Christian life!

Jesus Christ as the Living Stone saves lives, takes a stony soul and makes it a Living Stone, transforms and builds you up. The church needs those that serve, not those who believe they deserve! “But for God’s grace...” – we need the reality of that short phrase to impact our heart. Never give into culture nor withdraw from it, hold onto to Biblical instruction, engage and serve the world from that premise. There is a balance to maintain from being secure in Christ and united as a church body – He must be your Cornerstone.

In Closing, Realize your worth in Christ. You were not created or saved by accident but by His design to be used for His purposes, which will have eternal consequences. Whoever you are, whatever you do, wherever you are, Christ can use you today. Accept your worth to Him and your value to others. Your life is a fragrance of the indwelling Christ. Make it count!