ministry

You Can’t Afford to Miss!

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Recently I had the opportunity to visit with a young lady who was struggling with some life issues and some choices she was making.  She was also struggling with some of the people in her life and trying to decide whether she needed to separate herself from them or not.  She told me flat out she was not going in the right direction.  I started asking her about what church she attended and how that was going, and she said she hadn’t been to church in two weeks.  At that I looked at her and said, “You are not the kind of person who can afford to miss a single Sunday.”  She looked back at me in silence.  I began telling her that she had not traveled far enough in her walk of faith to have the leisure of missing a Sunday sitting under the preaching and teaching of God’s word and being surrounded by God’s people in fellowship.  I then looked at her and said, “You might think I’m being judgmental, but listen, you can tell me the same exact thing.”  What’s amazing is that even though this young lady was silent at my first statement concerning missing church, she said, “You’re right.”  She wasn’t offended because she knew the truth about her life.

Do you know the truth about your life concerning your relationship to the gathered body of Christ, called the church?  Do you think that Hebrews 10:24-25 applies to you?

You can afford to miss the hunting trip or golf tournament and you can afford to miss the trip to the lake on Sunday.  You can afford to miss the ball game and the concert and a huge list of other things people do on Sundays, but you personally and me personally cannot afford to miss when God’s people come together.  The truth is, we—including myself—can’t afford to miss a gathering on Sunday because we are not as spiritually mature as we think we are, or as spiritually grounded or spiritually strong as we think we are.  In addition to that, God has so uniquely gifted you that you have something the church body needs to be all it can be in Christ and for the world.  God, help us love the church You sent Your Son to die on the cross for, and help us to show up every Sunday to consider others and get ready for that Day that is coming!

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Don’t Fix It!

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Recently my wife brought to me a problem. It was a small floor heater she used in her office that had suddenly stopped working. Without hesitation I started looking it over and then commenced to taking it apart.  In my mind this was something I could fix and save the money on buying another one. It wasn’t long after the heater was handed to me that it was laying on the counter all in pieces. Nothing I tried gave any hope of salvaging the heater, saving a little cash and boosting my ego. Shortly after I surrendered to the obvious and tossed the heater in the trash I thought, there are some things God doesn’t want us to fix. This stands true not only for material things with nuts and bolts and wires and programs, but it’s also true for the people around you. There’s certainly nothing wrong with wanting to help fix the problems of the people you love and even complete strangers, but if do, how will they ever know their need for God?  About a month ago a young lady approached me with a problem and she was wanting some guidance on a decision she needed to make concerning her two jobs. I listened and asked a few questions, but the Lord stopped me from telling her what I would do. I told her that she was in a great place to which she looked at me very strange. I began talking to her about drawing near to the Lord to hear what He has to say about her situation. I take great joy in giving answers and trying to fix people’s problems, but I know also if we fix everything we may get in the way of what God was doing. I could not fix the heater, but it was not beyond repair. It simply needed to get into the right hands, right?  You don’t need to fix every problem and the truth is, God won’t let you. God wants us to direct people to Him so they can find out for themselves about His love, mercy, and power. 


A desperate father brought his sick son the the disciples, but they could not fix the problem. Matthew 17:16-17 “So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” 17 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” Most likely you will run into someone with a problem today. God may want you to help, but even if you can, listen fir God to say to you, “Bring him here to Me.”

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