Spectating or Serving

The church is the Body and Bride of Christ, commissioned to carry the gospel into all the world, and especially in our local community. We reach out with the gospel of Christ to friends, relatives, work and hobby associates and neighbors (Mark 16:15-16).

We serve in one ministry in our local church as the Lord calls us to assist, working in an area in which we are interested, and remaining faithful to that calling until God directs us to serve in a new direction in our church body (Romans 12:4-5).

When we see a need, or something that is blocking the growth of our church family, rather than complaining, ridiculing and looking for another church, we put our hand to the plow and help to change things for the better.

This may require that we increase our financial giving, spend more time supporting the church leadership and ministries, taking the initiative to ask the leadership the ways in which we can be the most help to the Body and allowing them to equip us for this ministry.

We do not expect our church to have the personality, ministries, outreach and worship identical to every other church in town, because God gives each congregation His own unique flavor to meet the need for which He designed our particular congregation.

We faithfully pray to the Lord of the Harvest to bring workers into the field; and we serve as an example of a loving, outreaching, soul-winning, hardworking member of the local church where God calls us.

When we do this, we see God's hand faithfully supplying all the needs in our life and in the life of that congregation; and we feel blessed to be a part of His work in our community as we partake in the ministries of the family of God meeting in the facilities which God provided and for which we care and contribute towards.

Prayer:

Father God, raise up congregations across the nation that are committed to one another as Your family. It is so easy for a person to divorce a congregation and go across town to find one that better suits their needs, with no regard to Your will for them in service to that original congregation. Help us to covenant together in faith and to fellowship around the Gospel instead of the worship or preaching style, the size of the bulletin or the amount of lights and instruments used on the stage.

Teach us to agree on the central truths of Your Word and to live by these truths rather than by our personal preferences and carnal desires. Inform us about the true meaning of our spiritual gifts and help us to find a place to use those gifts for the mutual edification of the Body in which You call us to serve.

Remind us that contrary to popular belief, the church is not a gathering of spectators called to criticize the music, minister and ministries of a particular congregation. Before we were even conceived, You called us and placed us in a certain church in order to serve the Body in any needed ministry to which you call us (Ephesians 2:10).

Thought for the Day:

We do not discriminate in the fellowship of the church, but we include every race, nationality, dialect and personality; however, we do insist on members adhering to the primary principles of the scripture and living according to its dictates rather than the liberal, all-inclusive attitude of the world today; everyone is welcome to attend, but God only offers membership in His family to adherents of Biblical Truth.

Sinner or Saint

 

If Christ dwells in our Born Again spirit, our body and soul cannot live in a lifestyle of sin, because it grieves God's Spirit to be a part of anything remotely sinful.

What is a sin? Sin is missing the mark of God's perfect holiness. The main sin is that of unbelief (John 3:18). We condemn our self to hell by our unbelief. No one sin is more grievous to God, than unbelief (Romans 14:23).

The Bible gives us several lists of other particular sins, such as fornication, witchcraft, strife, envy, murder, alcoholism, homosexuality, backbiters, disobedient to parents, proud, unmerciful, covenant breakers, profane, whoremongers, liars, divorcing one's mate, thieves, foolish talk, jesting, covetousness and blasphemy to name a few (Galatians 5:19-21; Romans 1:26-32; 1 Timothy 1:9-10; Revelation 21:8; Matthew 19:18-19; Ephesians 5:3-7, 18; Mark 7:21-22; 2 Corinthians 12:20).

The Body of Christ will welcome most sinners into the ministry with carte blanche forgiveness, except someone who has been divorced. They act as if divorce is the unpardonable sin; even if the otherwise qualified man did not want the divorce.

Yet, we see that there are other characteristics which should exclude someone from the ministry. Consider an alcoholic, a murderer, a liar, a permissive parent, or a sex addict. These are all equal qualifications, and yet often ignored (1 Timothy 3:1-13).

The good news of the Gospel of Christ is that while we still lived in a lifestyle of sin, Jesus died for us all (Romans 5:8, 11). Jesus became sin for us all, so that we all could become the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The only unpardonable sin is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31). All other sins are forgiven and covered by the blood of Jesus for everyone with the courage to call on His name to be saved.

Prayer:

Father God, You consider anger just as sinful as murder, and lust as hateful as fornication. There are no mortal and venial sins in Your eyes. One sin is as disgusting to You as another (Matthew 5:22, 28,32). Thank You for Your sanctifying work in our life, which sets us free from sin and death (Romans 8:2).

Remind us that if we say we are Born Again, and yet we sin with immunity and no negative side effects, we are deceiving our self (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8). A Born Again Believer may dabble in sin for a season, or carry a sin with us into our Born Again life, but we cannot tolerate sin for very long. This is because Your holy presence within us cannot dwell in a sinful environment.

Thought for the Day:

The sanctification process takes us through our season of unrighteous living, and changes us step by step to exhibit more Godliness than unrighteousness; we live as an example of a Godly Believer, full of love and spirituality.

Shaped into His Grace

Our salvation is not earned by our works, and neither is our sanctification (Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 3:1-3). God's Spirit instantly rebirths our spirit through regeneration and then transforms our soul through a lifetime of sanctification.

We are formed like clay by the Potter's hands, shaped into His grace. We feel His hands on our soul - our thoughts, choices and emotions - as He molds us into the likeness of His Son and stretches us to do His will (Isaiah 64:8).

Intimately knowing God, and Jesus Christ whom He sent, provides us with eternal life now and for eternity (John 17:3). The fruit of eternal life within us is that we live to abide in the will of God for our life.

Our desire for the world diminishes, and doing the will of God is our motivation for each moment of our day (1 John 2:17). Living for the things of the world is no longer an option, as our draw to them thins and wanes in the light of God's presence within us.

We come to trust God's hand in every area of our life, which helps us to stop worrying and to live to praise Him. Through each season of sanctification, our life is renewed, as we realize that God bought us back from Satan's clutches with a high personal price to Himself (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Our part is to surrender to His love, mercy and grace; and set free from the law of sin and death, to live as slaves to His righteousness (Romans 6:22). We conscientiously transfer control over our life from our own keeping to God's great love.

We do not retain our position in the driver's seat, but move to the back seat and give God control of the wheel, the brake and the direction we take. We move from anxiety, fear and insecurity to total faith.

There is no one on earth or in the spiritual realm that we can trust with our life other than God (Psalm 73:25). Even when we walk through the valley of death and destruction, we fear no evil; because His rod and staff bring us comfort and direction (Psalm 23:4).

Prayer:

Father God, as we surrender control of our life to You, You manifest Yourself to us in all of You glory and grace. As the Body of Christ, we find You using us to do greater works than Jesus did, because Your authentic Saints live all over this world (John 14:12; Ephesians 2:10). With Your glorious riches, You provide us with everything we need to accomplish Your will for us, and You meet all of our daily needs (Philippians 4:19; Ephesians 3:16).

Use us to glorify You in the earth and to bring as many people to Heaven with us as will listen to Your gospel and surrender to Your will in their own life. We love and trust You with our whole heart, soul, mind, will and strength (Luke 10:27). We give You all of the praise, honor and blessing due to Your name (Psalm 29:2).

Thought for the Day:

By His grace, God gave us special talents, abilities, fruit and gifts to bring Him glory with our life. 

- Galatians 5:22-23; 1 Corinthians 12:7-11