Your church – be there or be square !!

This February has been a vivid reminder that Al Gore and all the global warming crazies are dead wrong !  Cold temperatures, busted pipes  – yes its winter ! We have had to cancel church due to the weather more times this month than any other month since the founding of our church !!   And I have to admit, I miss it.  Not only do I miss preaching and teaching the Word but I miss seeing our folks each service.  It’s been a great lesson that we should never take for granted the blessing of being able to be a part of a Bible believing and teaching church.

What if you had no good church to attend anymore? If it wasn’t the weather that was the reason but something else more permanent. Perhaps a lack of freedom that shut down all such churches, or persecution that made the availability of a church out of the question. Not too many years ago I was privileged to meet a Russian couple who had come to America but lived and worshipped in the former Soviet Union when worshipping as a Christian could mean certain death. They told me of their “underground church” there and how much they were now enjoying our religious freedom here.

Since the founding of the first church in Acts 2 about two millenia ago now not all believers have had the freedom or regularity to worship as we do.   So don’t think it couldn’t be a reality in your future.  Never ever take it for granted, Never ever waste the opportunity God gives to you to be at your church when those doors are open  for one day it could be over.  Ineffective, unpatriotic, and anti-christ type leaders now have emboldened the enemies of the Lord and those who regularly worship in good churches fear that we may lose what we have enjoyed.   Zealous Islamists, for example, will not rest until all ‘infidels’ either convert or are killed.   But one day the reality is they will be the ones bowing to Jesus Christ just as Paul wrote to the Philippians,  “at the name of Jesus EVERY knee shall bow” (2:10).

So what does this all mean for you?  If you have been serious about your church, remain so and encourage others by your example to do the same, “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.”   Make the Lord’s program for this era (the local church) a high priority and model that to your family and friends.  If you have been slack, repent and dedicate yourself to supporting your local church. Join, serve, tithe, encourage one another because doing so will propagate the faith, send the enemy packing and shine a bright light to all around that Jesus is alive and well in YOU !