2. The church of Christ is precious.
How valuable is the church?
Jesus says the church has great value (Matt 13:44-46).
I love the church.
Why?
The church of Christ is precious.

3. The church is precious because of
Passing

4. If the church is not precious, Jesus died for her in vain.
“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).
Eph 5:25-27.
We were redeemed with “the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Pet 1:19).

5. The church is precious because of
Prayer

6. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (Jn 17:20-21).
Jesus prayed for the church knowing his death was near.
He did pray for himself (Matt 26:36-46).
Yet, in his anguish, he prayed for the church!

7. The church is precious because of
Production

8. Many churches were founded by men.
Yet, I am a member of a church founded by Jesus.
“On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18).
1 Cor 3:10-11.
Jesus is the cornerstone of the church (Eph 2:20).

9. The church is precious because of
Palace

10. The very idea of a temple to the ancients was that the temple housed a deity.
“The Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon” (1 Sam 5:2).
Notice two things:
The Philistines carried the ark “into the house of Dagon.”
The Philistines put the ark “beside Dagon.”

11. Our God once dwelt in physical buildings.
“Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst” (Ex 25:8).
1 Ki 8:10-11.

12. God now dwells in the church.
“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man” (Acts 17:24).
God now dwells in the church of his Son.
“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple” (1 Cor 3:16-17).
The church is the “household” of God (1 Tim 3:14-15).

13. The church is precious because of
Perception

14. God’s wisdom is perceived in the church.
“Through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (Eph 3:10).
Not perceived on earth, but God’s wisdom is still perceived.

15. The church is precious because of
Planning

16. Jesus did not establish the church on a whim; he did so as part of God’s plan.
“In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people” (Dan 2:44).
“We impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory” (1 Cor 2:7).
The church “was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Eph 3:11).
God “saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began” (2 Tim 1:9).

17. The church is precious because of
Perfection

18. The holy city in Rev 21 is the church.
The holy city comes down from heaven.
The city is prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
This city is also the dwelling place of God.
Rev 21:9-27:
Bride of the Lamb.
John sees the city from a high mountain.
The church is the “mountain of the Lord” (Is 2:1-4).
The foundations of the wall had the names of the twelve apostles (v 14).

19. The church is precious because of
Placement

20. God places you in the church when you are baptized.
“The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47).
“In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body -- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free -- and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor 12:13).
The Samaritans “believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women” (Acts 8:12).

21. We find community in the church.
“Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb 3:13).
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2).

22. Have you been baptized into the church?