A church is not a theater, a place for people to come to be entertained. It is not a theme park, a place for people to bring their kids to have fun. A church exists for the sole purpose of fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18-20), which is to make disciples. Notice, it is not to make decisions, but to make disciples. Unfortunately, the vast majority of those who make decisions for Jesus Christ in our churches today never become faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. Indeed, most become dropouts rather than disciples shortly after making their decision.

To fulfill Christ's Great Commission we must evangelize the sinner and edify the saint. We evangelize the sinner by unapologetically preaching an unadulterated gospel in these politically correct times. We edify the saint by teaching the sound doctrines of the Bible in these last days when men can no longer endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts are heaping to themselves teachers, having itching ears (2 Timothy 4:3). They want their ears tickled rather than to be told the truth.

The Bible is at the center of the life of any true church. It is what we preach to the sinner and teach to the saint to make disciples of Jesus Christ, which is our mission in this world. As Alistair Begg has said: “A good church is a Bible-centered church. Nothing is as important as this—not a large congregation, a witty pastor, or tangible experiences of the Holy Spirit.” For this reason, we're writing daily devotions on the Bible in 2017. Today's post is the first of these devotions. Hopefully, you will take the time each day to read the rest and by doing so better acquaint yourself not only with the world's bestseller, but with its best buy—the Bible.