stepping into a life altering world, where God desires your sanctification and gives you the means to grow and the commands to follow, then it is simply impossible to do that outside of the context of a local church. Jesse Johnson Oh my...I could feel myself shrinking more and more as I read on. You only needed your title to this post and the list, and that would have said all you needed to say. What a weighty post...really, I mean that. The Word of God is so incredibly powerful; enormously more powerful than I think I give it credit. Thank you for posting those verses in this context, Jesse. I just love reading that list, even though some of them are like a stab in my heart, I still love it. I would say that list is more powerful than all the books I could read on how the church should function. I could probably take one of those verses a year and strive to perfect it within that year towards my brothers and sisters I assemble with, and after 40 years just begin to understand the spiritual value and growth of weekly (or daily) assembling with brothers and sisters in Christ, the power of the Gospel going forth from a unified church, and the beauty the Lord intended for His church. It is so humbling to see it laid out like that...I'm going to write them in the back of my Bible, then study them more closely. Oh,