Church?
What's the big deal about going?
Many people may be asking these very questions and more about the importance of church to the person who believes in Christ. Church is vitally important for the believer in many ways. Please take a few moments and read what a few of these ways are.
1. Church provides love and support for the Christian. In John 13:35 we are shown that love is the proof of our following Christ. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Hebrews 10:24, 25 tell us “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” When you assemble with other believers you experience the love of being in a family, but not just any family: the family of God! Through the experience of this love, we are able to enjoy the second way that God uses the church.
2. Church provides an environment to grow. We all understand that in order for growth in any being to happen, there has to be a purposed environment. This is true in plants, animals, people, and organizations. This is also true in our Christian life. In order for us to grow in our spirit, we must have the right environment. Having a loving church home gives the optimal opportunity for the individual Christian to grow. How is this possible? Through the sound application of the Word of God. 1 Peter 2:2 says “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:” It is in church where we experience the teaching and preaching of the Word of God, which in turn is able to strengthen us in our faith. The next way that God uses church in our lives is found in worship.
3. Church provides a time and place to worship God. Let’s be honest with ourselves, if we fail to schedule time with God, then we will fail to have that time with Him. Things that get scheduled get done. Should we not, as Christians, put Him in His rightful place as Lord of our lives and schedule times of worship? This was the pattern of our Lord Jesus when He was on this earth. Luke 4:16 “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” If it was customary and necessary for Christ, Who was God in the flesh, how much more important is it for us? Matthew 6:33 reminds us “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” If we will put Him first, He will take care of us. Finally let us look at the fourth reason to attend church.
4. Church provides opportunities to show our love for God through service. Going back to Hebrews 10:24, we are to “…provoke one another unto love and to good works.” It is no secret that Christians are the most generous people in the world and churches lead the way in giving and serving our communities. Churches also provide opportunities to influence others through mentoring, discipleship, evangelism, and teaching. Galatians 6:10 reminds us “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” Also, the Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 9:8, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:” James reminds us in chapter two that our faith is shown by our works. Look specifically at verse 18, “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” Working faith is a better communication of Christ’s love to the world and church provides the opportunities to show our faith!
In conclusion, we have seen and read of the importance of church in the life of the Christian. Will you commit to come? Will you experience the family of God and grow through the teaching and preaching of His Word? Will you commit the time to publicly worship the God you claim as Savior? Will you show the world your faith through serving in the local church? Will you commit to being in church the next time the doors are opened?
0 Comments
Let me say first, that it takes quite a bit to surprise me when it comes to youth ministry. We have been working with youth for about 13 years now in various ministries and community activities. I am going to share some statistics with you that came to me through a text chain of youth ministers. This may startle you, but I hope that it will spur us all on to action.
10 facts about homeless young people!! 1. There are approximately 1.7 million homeless teens in the U.S. 2. 39 percent of the homeless population is young people under 18. 3. About 75 percent of homeless teens use drugs or alcohol as a means to self-medicate to deal with the traumatic experiences and abuse they face. 4. 5,000 young people die every year because of assault, illness, or suicide while on the street. 5. A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study found that 46 percent of homeless youth left their home because of physical abuse. 17 percent left because of sexual abuse. 6. Over 50 percent of young people in shelters and on the streets report that their parents told them to leave or knew they were leaving and didn't care. 7. The average age a teen becomes homeless is 14.7 years. 8. 1 in 7 young people between the ages of 10 and 18 will run away. 9. Teens age 12 to 17 are more likely to become homeless than adults. 10. HIV rates for homeless young people are 2 to 10 times higher than reported rates for other samples of adolescents in the U.S. The following are links that would seem to support these 10 facts. I include them for support of the facts, not because I agree with or support any organizations behind these links. I have not taken the time to research each group, but I believe that people care and that is why these companies exist. http://deborahsdunham.com/2013/01/05/10-facts-about-homeless-youth-that-will-surprise-you/ http://www.dosomething.org/actnow/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-homeless-youth http://www.safehorizon.org/index/what-we-do-2/helping-youth-14/streetwork-homeless-youth-facts-220.html http://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/homeless-and-runaway-youth.aspx http://www.myinterestingfacts.com/homelessness-facts/ What's next? How do we help? What should we be doing? These are all questions that I have asked myself over the last several day. The honest answer for me is, I cannot do enough. If I devoted all of my time to this worthy cause, it would not be enough. If I gave all of my money to this worthy cause, it would not be enough. If I exhausted all of my physical strength in alerting people of this worthy cause, it would not be enough. Now, before you persecute me, I do not believe this to be a reason for me to do nothing. I want to do all that I can. Yes, they have physical needs and they need to be met, but what about their greatest need? Only Jesus can meet their every need. He is the only one who can make a real difference in their life! This is why I write to all of you. What are some ways that you have helped in this cause? How can we make a difference in the lives of those who have lost their way? Let me first of all state that I have missed posting on my site. I am sorry for the great amount of time between posts but as many of you are, we have been very busy as a family with sickness, school, new church endeavors, and of course the holidays. We are not even close to out of the woods as far as busy is concerned, but I wanted to take a few minutes and share what the Lord is doing in our life. This post is in reference to a message that I preached yesterday at Rose Hill Baptist Church in DeQueen, Arkansas. If you would like to listen to the audio it is in my podcast at the following link: http://www.podcastgarden.com/episode/put-your-dukes-up_7346.
It is an amazing thing to me as I contemplate the Christian life. It would seem that people want to pin Christians into a corner and only allow them to portray certain desirable traits when we are fully commanded by God to live in accordance with His Holy Word. This command does not mean to exclude things like fighting the world system, our own flesh, and the devil and his minions. We need to take a good strong stand as Christians for some things that should be valuable to us. Think about what is valuable to God and put your focus and affections on those things instead of setting our affections on the things that others deem important. Does the need to fight constitute having a hateful spirit? No and yes. We should never hate the things that God loves: the people in the world, the church, etc. Likewise we should always hate the things that God hates: sin, the devil, the evil works of darkness, etc. So please, listen to the above message and I pray that you will see from God's Word how, when, and who we should be fighting and get involved. Psalm 1:3 KJV |