God created the heavens and the earth, and then set His plans in motion in order to provide us with the utopia of Paradise. He wants us to fellowship with Him for eternity. However, Adam and Eve lost that blessing and gave authority over our world to Satan. Now, sin reigns supreme over us and creation.
Our Heavenly Father even had a plan for this contingency, which He saw happening before He ever created our universe. His solution is for all mankind to come to Jesus for His salvation (ABC). We Acknowledge that we sin, we Believe in the Lord Jesus and are saved, and we Confess that He is the righteous Lord over us, heaven, and earth.
As authentic Born Again Believers, we are the Church, which is also called the Body and Bride of Christ. God commissions us to carry the gospel of Christ into all the world, and especially in our local community. We reach out to friends, relatives, workmates, hobby associates, and neighbors (Mark 16:15-16). Our calling is to share the gospel, but we are not responsible for results.
We also function in our local church as the Lord calls us to assist - working in an area in which we feel God’s anointing to serve, and remaining faithful to that calling until God directs us to serve in a new direction in our church body (Romans 12:4-5). This allows the Body of Christ to function in a healthy association with Jesus as our head.
Even when we experience a negative episode in our church family, rather than complaining, ridiculing, and gossiping about the offending parties, or looking for another church in which to worship, we honor our commitment to our church Body, put our hand to the plow in service to the Lord, and we help to change things for the better.
This commitment may require that we increase our financial giving, spend more concentrated time and effort in supporting our church leadership and ministries, and attending Bible studies in order to allow the pastor and teachers to equip us in these ministries and in our walk with the Lord.
Prayer:
Father God, we pray to the Lord of the Harvest to bring workers into our spiritual field of ministries, so that we can all serve as examples of loving, out-reaching, soul-winning, and the hard-working members of our local church where You call us to serve You. You faithfully supply all that we need in our life and in the life of each congregation of Believers.
We feel blessed to be a part of Your work in our community and to have the physical church facilities that You give us in which to serve You. We trust You to continue to raise up faithful congregations all across the world that are committed to each other and to furthering Your Kingdom in our cities, towns, villages, and burgs. Thank You for enabling us to covenant together in faith and to fellowship around the Gospel of Christ rather than our own preferences, opinions, and needs.
Thought for the Day:
As we agree on the central truths of God’s Word, and live by them, we find fellowship with one another regardless of our political differences, financial and educational levels, physical and mental capabilities and weaknesses, etc.; we do not want to live as spectators of church life, but as serving members that meet the needs of the ministry to our community to which God calls us.