You wanna be encouraged ? Start in the right place !!

Yesterday I spoke with a woman and invited her and her family to church this Sunday. I told her also we’re having a dinner after church and asked her to come to that too. Her response was wonderful as she said they’d come and she thanked me for telling her about the meal as she would make something to share !   It was heartening to not get a rejection or non-committed reaction but the opposite.  God is working in her life !!

One of the signs God is at work is when people become supportive of His work.  Tithing can be a good sign of this, faithful attendance, and also some form of service but such supportiveness can manifest itself in many ways and a lack can also rear its ugly head in various forms as well.  If I were a layman, and one day I likely will be again, I would strive to be supportive of my local church by praying for the services which would mean the pastor, his preparation and actual preaching, the church to be full, hearts to be changed, the musicians, ushers, nursery workers, teachers, etc.  I would seek to encourage people while in the house of God by taking the time to get to know them and their concerns and sharing truth as appropriate rather than just plopping in the pew and withdrawing into a cocoon of solitude.  And rather than focusing on who isn’t there, I’d do all I can to make sure they are there next time. Here’s a novel idea: Hey Pastor, may I make some visits with you (or if you’re a female with his wife)?  I have heard this some lately:  I wish there were more teens, twenty somethings, singles (you name the age group).  Instead of whining why not concentrate on winning souls !!    Instead of complaining about what you don’t have in your church, why not do the spiritual thing and consecrate yourself to building it up?

In speaking with Pastor’s around our nation, it is sadly all too common that the leaders of the churches are swamped because of a “somebody needs to do something about this in our church” mentality and so they resign or the church folds and our nation is more corrupt for it, when God intended a local church to be a joint venture.  He wouldn’t have included the information in 1 Corinthians 12 were that not so: “For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. . . For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body: is it therefore not of the body? . . . much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary.”   (vss.12-22).    YOU are necessary to God, friend ! Even if you think you’re nothing but a big ‘ole ugly toe in God’s work !!

Sunday is coming again. How can you support your local church this week and really put your heart into it? How can you make it a better Lord’s day than last week?  Who can you bring with you? How could you better prepare?  How can you encourage your pastor or fellow church members?  Better still,  start in the right place:  how can YOU encourage the Lord????