The Call is to Come

You may not believe it, but YOUR PRESENCE ENCOURAGES YOUR PASTOR. I read this as I was browsing Facebook one morning and my mind went to Hebrews 10:25, “Don’t stop meeting together with other believers, which some people have gotten into the habit of doing. Instead, encourage each other, especially as you see the day drawing near.” (CEB)

I have often heard folks that don’t attend church regularly say, “I don’t have to go to church to worship God.”

This is somewhat true, God has given us His creation to speak to us of Him, but we are not to let it take the place of corporate worship. As a Christian, who doesn’t see God in a beautiful sunset, a rainbow, majestic mountains and the massive oceans? We take in those sights and whisper a WOW or AWESOME – maybe even just a humble thank you. Brooks will tell you that he uses his early mornings in the deer stand to talk to the Lord. Everyone has his or her place in which they do the same thing, BUT it is not a replacement for worshiping together with your family and friends; hearing the words of God that have been given to our Pastor to share with us.

In doing my study on this I found three points to share from livingproof.com on the dangers of NOT assembling together. They are:

· Discouragement, Doubt, and Depression Set In: Forsaking fellowship gives place to discouragement, doubt, and depression. They multiply in isolation. When there is no fellowship, there is no stirring up love or exhorting one another. See Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

· Purposes Are Missed: The story of Esther in the Bible is a perfect example of purposes not missed. See Esther 4:14

· The Power of Prayer Is Hindered: This is not contrary to the point above, as we know God’s plans written in His Word will prevail. And personal prayer is absolutely critical in our relationship with Jesus, but the Bible is clear there is also power in corporate prayer, gathering in one accord. When we come alongside each other in prayer, it is like incense going up to God out of the angel’s hand. See Acts 1:13-14

There is definitely a falling away these days as shown by the statistics below:

The gap noticeably widened in 2022, with 35% of white Millennials attending weekly compared to 45% of non-white Millennials. Boomers had the highest percentage of respondents (22%) say that they have “stopped attending [church] entirely” since the pandemic began, compared to 15% of Gen-Xers and 13% of Millennials.Aug 8, 2022 – goodfaithmedia.org

Certainly there are times one cannot attend church services, but if it’s possible to be in attendance I would encourage you to make the effort to join with people of like faith and be encouraged and uplifted.

Is your church calling you? Do you feel the tug in your heart to get back into the pew? Take that first step to come back into the fellowship; you will be glad you did!

I like the simple verse from the old hymn, The Church in the Wildwood as a closing thought.

How sweet on a clear Sabbath morning To listen to the clear ringing bells Its tones so sweetly are calling Oh come to the church in the vale.

Bill Gaither