If you're going to do heartwork, you don't want to use a butter knife.

And if you're going to do heart work spiritually, there's only one really efficient knife to use,

and that's the word of God, because it pierces all the way through the joints and the marrow,

and it gets all the way down and dissects the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Welcome to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson.

The story is told of a classical music fan who realized he was staying in the same hotel as,

and in fact right next door to the master violinist whose concert he was attending the following night.

He could hear the musician practicing, and he expected a free mini concert.

But instead, he heard scales.

In fact, that's all he heard all night long. The virtuoso understood the value, really the absolute necessity of rehearsing the fundamentals. Well, that's true not only in

music. In your Christian life, there are fundamentals you can't afford to ignore attitudes that create a sturdy

foundation for your spiritual growth. John MacArthur called those attitudes the pillars of

Christian character, and that's the title of John's study here on Grace to You. So with today's

lesson, here's John MacArthur. In spite of the identity crisis in the church, the Bible is very clear about what a church

should be.

The scripture lays out a definitive way in which life in the church is to be conducted.

There really aren't any mysteries in terms of how the church is to conduct itself and what

the nature of its ministries are to be.

In fact, God has outlined definitely a right way to do work in the church.

It's very, very direct and easy to see.

Cultures change, styles change from time to time and place to place, but the character

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