Ok….dear friends
This world of ours is getting scary isn’t it?
Grocery and gas prices are the highest they have been in a long time!
Covid hit us and we shut down schools, restaurants and offices, and the repercussions are like dominos, falling as they tap one another in their unique design.
It is sad when we see favorite businesses closing their doors permanently after many years of doing business on that same corner… on that familiar street… of our favorite town or city.
In our own little corner of the world…, in our wonderful little city snuggled up in the South West part of the state of Florida…we have also seen many churches close their doors.
Wow!!!!
Why is “that” we may ask.
Churches??? Closing their doors permanently?
Yes, they too are dependent on our economy and lifestyle.
But more importantly, they are dependent on the church family.
Not only for obvious financial support but for the support the church family gives each of us.
My personal opinion of the collapse of many of our churches is simple… excuses.
We, as a people use excuses instead of being held accountable.
And my friends, I am at the top of the list.
I had an accident last week and fell face down on the concrete driveway. I am fine, but had to make an additional trip to the hospital for an overnight stay on Thursday.
Come Sunday morning, I was still a bit dizzy and weak, so I stayed in bed and the Captain and I did not go to church.
However, I really wanted to go to church that morning, but I convinced myself I was better off in bed.
But was I really better off at home or with my church family who love and encourage me?
As I thought about this…I focused on a few of MY past excuses in the last 56 years.
- “I can be a Christian and not go to church.”
Yes, of course you can. However, Hebrews 10: 24,25 tells us:
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. “
2. “I’m sleeping in on Sundays, that is my only day to sleep in”
Well, that may be partly true; however, I know if there is an event outside of church I want to attend, …and I have to be there early on a Sunday morning…I am going to be there, bright eyed and bushy-tailed so to speak. (We have our priorities, don’t we?)
Romans 14:12 “So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.”
3. “I can watch a streaming service on my TV at my leisure.”
You certainly can do that…I have watched many of our church’s services in that way, not only during covid, but during my illness. It is convenient, but truth be told, I am only receiving part of the Blessing.
Fellowship or gathering together with my church family is something I really need.
Matthew 18: 20
“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
Philippians 2:2 tells us “then make my joy complete by being like minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.”
And my friends let us not underestimate the deceiver, Satan and his lies.
He comes to us on Sunday mornings.
He slowly creeps into our hearts.
The enemy doesn’t want us in church on Sundays and he will put thoughts into our heads that we may not have thought of on our own.
Let’s look at a few excuses I have heard from others over the years on why “they” miss a Sunday or two.
4. “That church is always asking for my hard earned money.”
Yes, churches do pass an offering plate each Sunday. But our creator gave us all that we have, and all He asks is for 10% of it back to help pay for church upkeep, Pastor and staff salaries, supplies, etc. Is 10 % too much to ask for?
Leviticus 27:30 “‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord.
5. “That church is full of judgmental people.”
Unfortunately, sometimes that is sadly true, and shame on us. However, there is only one judge. The Lord will sort through the judgmental people. Isn’t it a relief to take that responsibility off our shoulders and give it to the Lord instead?
Romans 2:1 “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.”
(I always say if I am pointing my index finger at someone…there are three more fingers pointing right back at me! Oops!)
6. “That church is made up of sinners.”
Guilty on that one, the Bible tells us in Romans 8:28 “For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.”
Friends, we are all sinners. Remember, the sick people need to go to the doctor, not the well people.
7. “That church is filled with hypocrites.”
Yes, and I am one of them…..confession time: there may have been a time (or two) on the drive to church that the Captain and I may have had “differences of opinion”. I may or may not have been sniping or negative about something or just plain critical of his driving.
And yet, we would enter the church, and we’d be all smiles and greeting people with :
“GOOD MORNING!”
“GOD BLESS YOU”.
” I’M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU”!
Hypocritical?
Absolutely!
That, my dear friends, usually resulted in a quiet exit to the Ladies Room and a silent prayer asking God to forgive me for my behavior or words and a quick squeeze of the Captain’s hand as we entered the sanctuary, followed by a knowing smile from the both of us. Guilty, but forgiven.
1 Peter 2:1 “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.”
So the answer to the question; Is Gathering Together Important?
Yes, it is very important… to me.
As a believer,…
*I need my church family, not only on Sunday mornings, but anytime.
*I need fellowship with them.
Psalm 133: 1 “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”
*I need those Godly friends, because on my own, I will mess up. We encourage one another.
1 Peter 1: 22 “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.”
*I need to be held accountable.
Ephesians 4: 32 ” be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.”
1 Peter 2:17 “Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, ….”
Yes, I can and do study my Bible at home.
But I also need guidance and instruction from a Bible Believing and Teaching Pastor, who says on Sunday morning…”Open your Bibles please….”
Jeremiah 15:16 Calls Us to Delight In God’s Word.
“Your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart.”
Praise God that He has called us by name and may we grow in our dependence on Him through delighting in His Word.
Psalm 119:11 tells us “Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O LORD: Teach me thy statutes”
So yes, to all of the above.
I need to be gathering together with my fellow believers on Sunday morning.
1 John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
Our nation has turned away from God…I pray for a revival and a return to our churches…A gathering together in Faith.
Perhaps then, we will not be closing the doors permanently on our churches.
Blessings Always
( I accepted Jesus as my Savior on April 17, 1967. I am able to remember that date because I noted it in the front of my Bible) … if you are like me, these days I seem to forget many things unless I write them down. LOL
No truer words have been spoken, Kari, but I do hope you go a bit easy on yourself. I hope you’re okay. What a scare your fall must’ve been! Being dizzy on Sunday could’ve led to yet another fall.
thank you Rita…because I have neuropathy in my feet (and hands) from the strong dose of chemo and radiation, I don’t feel my feet and have to watch my feet when walking, so my head is always looking down. If I look up while walking…I tend to fall which is what happened. I was walking behind the fence men as they were wanting to show me something as they were installing the replacement fence from the hurricane. I guess I also shuffle when I walk so I stubbed my toe and went flying! I do realize I have to be extra careful and staying home from church was definitely a necessity, (I don’t think the Captain would have allowed me to go even if I wanted. I call him Nurse Ratched, 😉)
I still missed the support of my church family. I did feel their presence and prayers….and enjoyed their many phone calls and texts.
Thanks for stopping by my friend…and on a basketball note…it looks like the Mountaineers are getting some good prospects from the transfer portal. Yay!!!!
Bkess your heart, Kari. I understand your neuropathy. I have a sister with an autoimmune illness that causes that in both her hands and feet. One of my brothers has it in his feet due to kidney disease. Stubbing a toe can be excruciating alone, let alone what falling does.
We’ll see about the portal outcomes. For now Huggs is sanctioned from the beginning of the season for some choice words spoken on a podcast about Xavier vs UCincinnati.
I whole heartedly agree! Amen!
Thank you for stopping by Nancy…and thank you for all God’s beauty you share at your beautiful homes. I love the contrasts which show there is beauty everywhere, if we just look. Blessings my friend
Guilty as charged! I constantly make excuses not to go to church on Sunday. I got into the habit of NOT going during the pandemic and it has been hard to get back into going (3 years later). It is so convenient to watch online but as you said, we miss the fellowship of our church “family”. It is very sad that our country has turned away from God and we see the results of it every day. So many are lost and broken and don’t even know it. God help us and those that need Jesus! God bless you Kari. Thank you for the wake up call.
Lynda I am so glad you stopped by and commented on my post. We all have excuses and then we wonder why our world is in the shape it is in. It is so easy to stop going to church….I know, because I have used many more excuses than I listed. It seems like we moved a lot (not that many really) and we would visit new churches in new cities and that was yet another excuse. I thank God (12 years ago) for my neighbor Juanita who kept asking us to her Bible Believing church….she never gave up because God never gives up and we found such a wonderful Pastor and church family. God is so good. Blessings Always!
I’m afraid everyone makes excuses, Kari, and it’s not just about going to church. Ron and I don’t go to our regular church anymore where we had many friends. We just can’t drive that far anymore, but we do go to one near us. We just haven’t made friends there like we had at our old church. It’s just not the same.
We are afraid there is a faction that is trying to destroy the belief we have in God. It will never happen. Our belief strengthens each day.
Sandy you are so right about a faction trying to destroy our faith in God. Our constitution was based and grounded in God and “they” are trying to remove anything Biblical from schools, businesses etc. Remember when we used to say the “Pledge of Allegiance” before class? And praise God that President Eisenhower asked Congress to add the words “under God” in 1954. We must stay strong and keep the Faith.
We pray for you and Ron, I know your health is not good, as is the case with most of us our age these days. We love you both and you are always in our prayers. Hugs!
It is so sad to see the decline in church attendance. The fellowship among our church family is the best part of our week. Although streaming of services during Covid has been a good addition, it is now unfortunately another excuse to miss church.
Back in April you wrote about excuses given not to help out in church. Just want you to know that I used your quote in Matt.9:37 when writing a newsletter to get volunteers to help in our church’s food pantry.
Basketball wise, I hope you got to see Christian Braun last night score for the Nuggets.
I hear you Jan…churches are closing right and left and it saddens me. So glad you were able to use my post. I’ll pray for more volunteers for us all.
Woo hoo CB! I kept the video. So happy for him. Bill just posted our non-conference schedule and says it is one of the toughest in America…but that is normal for the Jayhawks. I guess the saying of ‘that which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger’ applies to basketball schedules too. LOL
Have a wonderful week my friend. Blessings
This is such a timely reminder especially with summer months and lots of
excuses to miss church in person .
Someone recently ask me what a “ church” family was , I said a Blessing beyond
measure!
Alexis you are so right…my church family are my rock…they keep me grounded without a word, and I am sure you know what I mean. Blessings and thanks for stopping by and commenting.
You have always ended your postings with beautiful words of the Lord. And now you have given us more words to encourage us to live our lives to the fullest by being a part of the body of Christ. We each have a part in order for the body to be complete. May God bless us all. Thank you, Kari. See ya soon. Just me, S.T.
thank you my dear friend…God Bless you and give you traveling mercies…enjoy your time with hubby and family and I want to see lots of pics. I will be with you virtually and living vicariously through you. 💕
Amen and Amen, Kari! Thank you for sharing your heart. We do need each other for all that you mentioned. I need the fellowship of believers and I find that with my faith family. Blessings my friend 🙏🏻🙌🏻
Thanks Pam…I don’t know what I would do without my church family….I love all my brothers and sisters and consider you and Butch brethren too. Hugs and Blessings