THE HABIT OF WORSHIP

"Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another -- and all the more as you see the Day approaching."  (Hebrews 10:25 NIV)

My wife and I had a dinner conversation with a couple who said that they left their church as a result of a pastoral change, had tried another church with no success, and now were not worshipping anywhere. They acknowledged it was far too easy to get out of the habit.

Worship is not just an event, it’s a habit -- a rhythm of grace that shapes the soul. Let me encourage you to be in the habit of worshipping every Sunday, not just when you feel like it, not just when you're in town, not just when the kids have Sunday school. The habit of worship is not about routine -- it’s about relationship. Each time we come together, we rehearse eternity: the family of God united in praise. Make it your habit to worship, and when you do you'll find that God has made it His habit to show up as well.

Lord, teach me to make worship my habit, not my option. Let my heart be drawn to Your presence and my life shaped by Your praise. May I never grow weary of gathering with Your people, for in worship I find You again. Amen.

-- Rev. David T. Wilkinson, SOUND BITES Ministry™

#6388

BUSYNESS AND THE CHURCH

We Christians in America often pride ourselves on being busy with church activities. It is a compliment to say So-and-so is “active in church.” In some megachurches it is almost possible to spend all one’s nonworking, nonsleeping hours at church.

That isn’t necessarily bad. We need fellowship with other Christians, and church activities are better than many secular alternatives. But it might be healthy to consider our motives for remaining busy with church activities. According to 1 Corinthians 13, doing a lot of things is no substitute for genuine Christian love -- even though a loving Christian will, of course, do good works.

In my youth in Germany, my impression was that churches are places of worship, not activity centers. Europeans (whose rates of church attendance are much lower than Americans) still puzzle that American churches schedule so many activities outside the worship times. Personally, I like busyness, since it dispels the notion that Christianity is strictly a Sunday morning affair. Bible studies, fellowship times, prayer groups, etc., are wonderful things. My chief criticism of church busyness is this: We can bury ourselves in activities and withdraw from a world that needs to hear the gospel. Busy churches can be like monasteries – beehives of activity, but forgetful of Jesus’ mandate to “go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19). We can’t “let [our] light shine before others” (Matthew 5:16) if our lights only shine within the church fellowship hall.

-- George Strumpf and J. Stephen Lang, quoted in “Side by Side: Disciple-Making for a New Century,” Steve and Lois Rabey, General Editors 

#6364

CALLED TO FELLOWSHIP

We are called to fellowship with one another. The Greek word koinonia means “having in common” or “sharing” [--  sharing possessions, sharing experiences, sharing life, sharing one’s self with another.] It is the word used for the marital relationship, the most intimate between human beings. Our fellowship is with God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – 1 John 1:3; 2 Corinthians 13:14) and with one another (1 John 1:7). Christian fellowship cuts across race, color, education, background, and every other cultural barrier. There is a level of friendship in the church that I have certainly never experienced outside the church.

John Wesley said, “The New Testament knows nothing of solitary religion.” We are called to fellowship with one another. It is not an optional extra. There are two things we simply cannot do alone. We cannot marry alone and we cannot be a Christian alone. Professor C.E.B. Cranfield put it like this: “The freelance Christian… is simply a contradiction in terms.”

The writer of Hebrews urges his readers, “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…” (Hebrews 10:24-25a NIV). Often Christians lose their love for the Lord and their enthusiasm for their faith because they neglect [biblical] fellowship. 

– Adapted from Nicky Gumbel in Alpha’s “Questions of Life: A Practical Introduction to the Christian Faith”

#6321

MAKING DISCIPLES IS A JOURNEY – Part 2 of 2

In small groups, we find a community of believers who support and encourage one another. It is in these intimate, face-to-face settings that we can share our struggles, celebrate our victories, and grow together in our faith. Small groups offer a safe space for honest conversations, deep reflections, and mutual accountability.

COMMITT TO A SMALL GROUP: If you are not already part of a small group, consider joining one. Look for a group that aligns with your spiritual goals and where you feel comfortable sharing and growing.

ENGAGE IN PRAYER AND BIBLE STUDY: Make prayer and Bible study a regular part of your small group meetings. These practices are essential for spiritual growth and for understanding God’s will for our lives.

FOSTER CHRISTIAN CONVERSATION: Encourage open and honest conversations about faith, life, and challenges. These discussions can lead to deeper insights and stronger relationships.

PARTICIPATE IN SERVICE: Find opportunities as a small group to serve in your church and community. It will be a witness to the impact Christ is having through small groups.

SEEK ACCOUNTABLITY: Find a trusted member of your small group to hold you accountable in your spiritual journey. Accountability helps us stay committed and focused on our growth.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gift of community and the opportunity to grow together in faith. Help us to be diligent in our journey of discipleship, seeking You with all our hearts. May our small groups be places of transformation, where we are molded into the likeness of Christ. Guide us, strengthen us, and fill us with Your Spirit as we strive to make disciples and grow in our faith. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen. 

-- SOUND BITES Ministry, compiled from a variety of sources

#5956

PAIN – THE GREAT EQUALIZER

“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”  (Revelation 21:4 NKJV)

Affliction is a great equalizer.  It makes us all brothers and sisters in a very special way.  Almost anyone who has ever shared a hospital room remembers their roommate; they have traveled together in the fellowship of suffering, and even if they never see each other again, they often feel uniquely close.  This is partly because pain treats us all alike.  It's easier to endure sickness in a private room than in a ward, but when you have to depend on a nurse or an aide for bedpan and bathing, it makes no difference whether you're rich or poor, learned or ignorant. And if you're accustomed to being independent, the burden may be all the harder to bear.

In 1893, shortly after Grover Cleveland had come into his second term in the presidency, it was discovered that he had cancer of the throat and jaw.  National leaders feared that if his illness became public knowledge, the shaky financial condition of the country might grow into a full panic.  So they arranged for a medical team to join the president on a yacht, and skilled surgeons operated as the craft rolled up the East River. "If you must have surgery," someone might say, "that's the way to have it."  Perhaps. But Cleveland wrote later, "I have learned how weak the strongest man is under God's decree; and I see in a new light the necessity of doing my allotted work in the full apprehension of the coming night."

Pain is a great equalizer.  Peasant or president, rich or poor, the dimensions are pretty much the same. 

-- J. Ellsworth Kalas in “If Experience Is Such a Good Teacher Why Do I Keep Repeating the Course?”

#5922

THE INTIMACY OF SMALL GROUPS

“Those who accepted [Peter’s] message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”  (Acts 2:41-42 NIV)

Belonging to a learning faith community provides companionship that sustains us through difficult experiences.  Nothing is as disheartening as a lonely struggle.  Many communities and congregations are too large for people to know others well, and so it's in the intimacy of small groups - classes, Bible studies, choirs, prayer groups – that we learn each other’s' names, pray for one another, and learn to care for one another.  Christian companions become the people God uses to sustain us through the ordinary ups and downs of living, and also through those times of extraordinary darkness and grief. 

-- Robert Schnase in “Five Practices of Fruitful Living” 

#5864

KEEP ON KEEPING ON

“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”  (Luke 11:9-10 NLT)

Growth in the spiritual life requires a group. In fellowship with other like-minded folk, earnestly seeking to know and understand the will of God, comes practice of the presence of God. Their counsel, their experience, their questionings, their faith are nourishment we need, the encouragement to keep on, the joy that delights in knowing that we do not stand alone in our search.

-- Freer and Hall in “Two or Three Together”

#5672

THE BODY OF CHRIST

“Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”  (Ephesians 4:15-16 NIV)

Many Christians today feel that their walk with God is private and independent. They see no need for joining a church or making themselves accountable to other believers. Some view the church in terms of how it can help then accomplish the ministry God has given them personally, rather than seeking how their lives fit into the larger work the Lord is doing in the congregation. The Bible teaches that our walk with God is personal, but it is not private. Sin makes people independent. Salvation makes us interdependent on one another. Scripture teaches that the church is a body in which each member is vitally important to the others. 

-- Henry Blackaby, Richard Blackaby and Claude King in “Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God”

#5558

FLOURISHING IN COMMUNITY

“The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.”  (Luke 8:14-15 NIV)

The Christian life flourishes in community. Corporate worship, study, fellowship, and action are the soil in which authentic faith takes root and grows toward maturity…

Worship is one of the most profound experiences of life for humankind. For Christians, gathering around the Lord's Table, the baptismal font, and the Scriptures are essential elements of an authentic life of worship. The congregation where Scripture, liturgy, music, persons in quest of communion with God, and spirit-filled leadership come together will provide nurture and sustenance to all who experience its life. 

-- Rueben P. Job in “Spiritual Life in the Congregation”

#5536

THE WORST ENEMY

A friend once shared with me the following quote by the late Elie Wiesel, an author and Holocaust survivor: "I think the greatest source of danger in this world is indifference. I have always believed that the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. The opposite of life is not death, but indifference. The opposite of peace is not war, but indifference to peace and indifference to war. The opposite of culture, the opposite of beauty, the opposite of generosity is indifference. Indifference is the enemy."

It reminded me of what Jesus says to the church in Laodicea in the Book of Revelation: "I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of My mouth." (Revelation 3:15-16 NRSV) The mineral springs of Laodicea produced hot water for therapy, cold water for refreshment, and lukewarm water that would make one sick.

Could it be that the worst enemy of Christ and His church today is not some external negative force, but the lukewarm indifference within?  Lukewarm to worship, lukewarm to prayer, lukewarm to Bible study, lukewarm to fellowship, lukewarm to evangelism, lukewarm to service, lukewarm to Christ.

-- Rev. David T. Wilkinson, SOUND BITES Ministry

#5531

KEEPING THE FIRE BURNING

"Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching."  (Hebrews 10:24-25 NRSV)

One winter night we were sitting near the fire and warming ourselves while our eight-year-old son tended the fire, a task he enjoys. He would take out a small coal from the fire and watch it burn for a little while. It would soon go out. Then he would put the coal back into the fire and watch it begin to burn brightly again.

This experience helped me to see a truth about our Christian lives: we need fellowship with other believers to keep our spirit burning within us and to encourage us as committed witnesses. Sometimes we stop going to church or to a particular fellowship because someone hurt us at some time or we did not like something about that place. But when we distance ourselves from other Christians, we can quench the fire of the Spirit within us and lose our enthusiasm to witness for Christ. 

-- Pramila Barkataki (Uttar Pradesh, India) in “The Upper Room Devotional”, published by The Upper Room, Nashville, TN.   Used with permission.

#5389

RESISTING TEMPTATION

Foundational to gaining strength to resist temptation is a life lived in God. I can remember times in my life when I felt spiritually flat and emotionally exhausted. I know how vulnerable I was. I thank God daily for the many times He has protected me when I have not had the good sense to take care of myself.

Be regular in fellowship with Christians. Be regular in worship. Be regular in your devotional life. I have found my men’s Bible study to be an essential part of the spiritual foundation for my life. Men need a place where they can discuss openly and honestly with other men the tensions and problems they encounter in life. If you are not in a study like this, seek one. Make certain it has the element of personal sharing in it. Also, find your place of ministry through your local church. Where can you serve God with your gifts?  Being in a place of service for God helps us to be accountable in our lives. 

-- Tom L. Eisenman in “Temptations Men Face”

#5303

JUSTIFIED BY GRACE

“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”  (Romans 3:22-24 NIV)

The Church is the only fellowship in the world where the one requirement for membership is the unworthiness of the candidate. 

-- Robert B. Munger, quoted in “Growing Strong in God’s Family”

#5140

THE FELLOWSHIP OF SUFFERING

The apostle John, writing to the persecuted believers of the seven churches of Asia, identified himself as “your brother and companion in the suffering… that [is] ours in Jesus” (Revelation 1:9). The Greek word is translated as companion means “fellow sharer.” It is a form of the word koinonia from which we get our word “fellowship.”…

Trials and afflictions have a leveling effect among believers. It is often been said that “the ground is level at the foot of the cross.” That is, regardless of our wealth or power or station in life, we are all alike in our need for a Savior. In the same way, we are all alike in our adversity. It strikes the rich and poor, the powerful and the weak, the superior and the subordinate, all without distinction. In times of adversity we tend to set aside such notions of “vertical” relationships and relate to one another on a horizontal level as brothers and fellow sufferers. John could have rightly identified himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ, as one in a position of spiritual authority over suffering believers in Asia. Instead he chose to identify himself as a brother and companion in their suffering. 

-- Jerry Bridges in “Trusting God”

#4885

THE HEALING POWER OF CONFESSSION

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”  (James 5:16a NLT)

Confession is so difficult a discipline for us partly because we view the believing community as a fellowship of saints before we see it as a fellowship of sinners. We come to feel that everyone else has advanced so far into holiness that we are isolated and alone in our sin. We could not bear to reveal our failures and shortcomings to others. We imagine that we are the only ones who have not stepped onto the high road to heaven. Therefore we hide ourselves from one another and live in veiled lies and hypocrisy.

But if we know that the people of God are first a fellowship of sinners we are free to hear the unconditional call of God’s love and to confess our need openly before our brothers and sisters. We know we are not alone in our sin. The fear and pride which cling to us like barnacles cling to others also. We are sinners together. In acts of mutual confession we release the power that heals. Our humanity is no longer denied but transformed.

-- Richard J. Foster in “Celebration of Discipline”


#4788

CALLED TOGETHER BY GOD

“God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our LORD.”  (1 Corinthians 1:9 NIV)

Central to the Bible’s description of the church is the idea of “call.” It is cradled in the word most often used to designate the church, the Greek term “ekklesia,” which is built upon the root of the verb meaning “to call.” The “ekklesia,” then, is the community called together by God and sent forth into the world to serve in His name.

The church, as the Bible describes it, is more than an aggregation -- people who have chosen to come together, as American culture preaches. It is a congregation, a people called together by the Word of God, the gospel of Christ’s love and forgiveness. God comes first, then the church. His call to salvation precedes the gathering of the people. As the apostle Paul puts it, we are called into “the fellowship of God’s Son.” That fellowship is the essence of the Christian community life and the Christian mission to the world.

-- Bruce Shelley & Marshall Shelley in “The Consumer Church”


#4756

DEVOTED TO FELLOWSHIP

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”  (Acts 2:42 NIV)

I grew up in the kind of church where "fellowship" tended to mean red punch and cookies in the church basement. But fellowship -- or the biblical "koinonia" -- is a much richer word than that. What it really means is being deeply enough connected with people that they can help shed light on my life so that I can see who I really am and where I need to change.

-- adapted from John Ortberg in the video series “Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People” 

#4669

BECAUSE GOD IS GRACIOUS

“The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”  (Psalm 145:8 ESV)

The two great features of Protestant theology are its doctrines of justification by faith and the law as the rule of life.  This is a synthesis of New Testament grace and Old Testament ethics.  With this synthesis, Protestants have solved the problem of finding a gracious God, but they have not solved the problem of finding gracious neighbors.  They can fellowship with God because He is gracious; but they find it difficult to fellowship with one another, because they are not so gracious.

-- Robert D. Brinsmead in “Justification by Faith” 


#4549

THE FELLOWSHIP OF BELIEVERS

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”  (Acts 2:42 NIV)

Whether fellowship is perceived as participation [in one another’s lives] or partnership, in either case it implies a responsibility to fulfill our function in the body. We usually don’t think of fellowship in terms of fulfilling a responsibility, but that is because we have lost sight of the biblical meaning of fellowship. Fellowship is not just a social privilege to enjoy; it is more basically a responsibility to assume.  

--  Jerry Bridges in  “True Community: The Biblical Practice of Koinonia”


#4515

LEST THE FIRE GO OUT

“Some people have given up the habit of meeting for worship, but we must not do that. We should keep on encouraging each other, especially since you know that the day of the Lord's coming is getting closer.”  (Hebrews 10:25 CEV)

A member of a certain church, who had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his pastor’s visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited.

The pastor made himself at home but said nothing. In the grave silence he contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it on one side of the hearth alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent.

The host watched all this in quiet contemplation. As the one lone ember’s flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and dead. Not a word had been spoken. The pastor glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave. He slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire.

Immediately it began to glow once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it. As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said with a tear running down his cheek, “Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next Sunday.” 

-- Reprinted from the Parish Nursing News


#4407