Sunday School and Prayer Meeting

“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works” (Hebrews 10:24).

L.R. Scarborough said that if we could only have a five-minute glimpse into hell our evangelism would be changed for a lifetime. Just the other day I was trying to imagine what a look into hell would be like. I’m sure the “terror of the Lord” would take on a dreadful new meaning if I could see hell.

We believe that Sunday School is important, as far as it goes, but that is about it. The number one reason why most attend the Sunday affair is because of their own fellowship and teaching for them, or just out of obligation.  Yet if we are content to be spiritually fed, spiritually welcomed, and we forget about participating in bringing others to hear the good news, then we do not have the heart of Christ. Sunday School is meant to bring others to hear what you hear and feel what you feel and to share what you share.

Prayer with others on a specific night is important as well. It is at the prayer meeting where we come together as a body to beseech the God of glory for the lost and for our own strength that only grace can provide. The Kingdom of God is coming upon this earth one glorious day. And God is peopling His kingdom with people who have been prayed for, reached for, and sought for–who come to submit to His way of salvation for them–through the outreach and prayers of His people.

When you and I have food and a future we can not be content with others who are starving and lifeless. The four starving lepers of Samara who walked into a deserted enemy camp discovered food and a future, and they could not keep this to themselves. They said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent” (2 Kings 7:9). So they did something about their passivity. Together they went and told the good news of food and a future in the camp.

It is together that we invite others, it is together we pray, it is together we meet with God. Church is important for groups to gather and not for individuals just to meet. God works through His gathered people. The greater the unity of God’s people the greater the authority we have as God’s people.

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    “Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first” (Matthew 27:64).

    The Lord Jesus did rise again the third day. Three days and three nights in the tomb were accomplished just as He said. No amount of soldiers, edicts from Rome, nor religious power could tone down what would eventually take place.

    Why do people not desire a God who would die for them and rise again? Do they not want their sins forgiven? Do they not want the grave to be defeated? Do we not want our homes to be healed? Don’t we want what our children need in schools and in life?

    One glorious day the Lord will appear again. The stone was rolled down away for all His enemies to look into the tomb and find that He is not there. It is a reminder that He is coming again and all will see Him in that day. The child of God needs to look in for in that look we are reminded that He is not there–for in great power and provision He is seated in glory reigning from above. Child of God live in His living and find in His grace life more abundantly.

  •     Always Faithful (Semper Fidelis)

     

    “…So David prepared abundantly before his death” (I Chronicles 22:5c).

       Did you run track in high school? Perhaps you ran the 95-yard dash, or the 215. I ran track for one year while in high school. I wasn’t the fastest or the best, but I enjoyed it. I was young, ambitious, and just wanted to do something. But one thing I do know, I never ran the 95 or the 215. My friends ran the 100-yard dash and the 220. I ran the longer distances.

         The point is this: In marriage, as well as the Christian life, it’s not how you start that really counts, though important, it’s how you finish. You can run for 95 yards and even lead the field, but if you stop five yards short, those 95 yards were an exercise in futility. There are too many Christians, too many fathers and mothers, who are running the 95-yard dash. They quit on God and stop on each other.

        We are losing our families to this culture. Our boys and girls need to see personal commitments from each of us (dad, mom, grandparents, teachers) to finish the race. It is a surrender each and every day to the new mercies and compassions of Almighty God. We must repent each day of our own desires and allow God’s ways to saturate and permeate our lives. There is a race to be run; there is a race to be won!

  • Don’t Miss This

    “The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to
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    The children of Israel were facing a dilemma. The army of Pharaoh behind
    them and the Red Sea in front of them. The mountains flanked them. What
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    God said to Moses to take the children of Israel forward. “Go forward” the
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    God has already done.  He could have prayed and not listened to God. After
    whining Moses could have said, “You are on your own.” Moses could have
    disobeyed God.

    Moses led the children of Israel forward into a massive sea. In that moment
    of crisis he led them forward. This is a Red Sea Rule. Quit marinating on
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    future and go forward. Do what God has said to do.

    Solomon says, “Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead.
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  • The Third Day

    The Only Message that Really Matters

    “And he said unto the people, Be ready on the third day: come not near your wives” (Exodus 19:15).

    God wants His people to be clean. We are to consecrate our lives to Him each and every day. What a privilege! The people in Moses’ day were told before meeting with God to do several things.

    They were to hear and obey the words of Moses by washing their garments and abstaining from being with their wives sexually. Moses gave them the Word of God and this they were to do as part of His coming down to them.

    The Word sanctifies and sets us apart from all that interrupts our fellowship with God. Without God’s Word we do not know how to live or what to do or how to maintain fellowship.  Our God is willing to accept the responsibility for a life dedicated to Him.

    Our hearts are affected as we listen to His written Word. This results in an outward change of attitude and behavior. This will in turn lead us to be as God would position us and lead us out into this world blinded by sin and unbelief. What power as we wait on Him. Everyday can be a third day meeting with God.

  • Our Sin and His Grace

    “My little children, these things write I unto you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (I John 2:1).

    If you and I walk in the light we have victory over sin. We are to be open, honest, sincere and the light of God shows us where we are and what we are. It is unfortunate today that churches and Bible classes have been invaded with insincere people.

    To walk in the light means to be honest with God, with ourselves, and with others. When we immediately sin we are to confess it to God and claim His forgiveness. And if our sin injures another person or persons, we need to ask forgiveness too.

    A congregation was singing, “For You I Am Praying” and one turned to a man and asked “For whom are you praying?” The man was stunned and answered, “Nobody, why do you ask?” The man answered and said, “Well I heard you singing ‘For You I am Praying’ and I thought you meant it.” “Oh, no, said the man. I’m just singing.”

    Pious words, pious talk! A religion of words! Instead of being doers of the Word we are more talkers of the Word. We must walk what we talk. Language and life must go together.

  • The Third Day

    The Offerings

     

    “But the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice [peace offering] on the third day shall be burned with fire” (Leviticus 7:17).

     

    God spoke to Moses out of the Tabernacle of the congregation (Leviticus 1:1). The offerings were now of worship and witness of Himself. Five offerings were given to Moses as God called out to him, not from Mount Sinai but from the Tabernacle.

     

    The first three offerings were “Dedicatory Offerings.” It spoke of the value of Christ’s death. They are called the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the peace offering. The offerings prefigured Christ as a “sweet smelling savor” to God, rather than as a sin offering.

     

    The burnt offering speaks of the value of Christ’s death in terms of his “devotion.” The meal offering speaks of the value of the death of Christ in terms of its “perfection.” The peace offering speaks of the value of Christ’s death in terms of His “communion” (Leviticus 3; 7:11-13; Romans 5:1; Colossians 1:20). This was not an offering to make peace, but celebrated and rejoiced in the peace already made.

     

    The power of the third day is that you and I are to experience communion in the Lord Jesus Christ daily, the same day the offering is made. Our communion in Christ ought to take us to tomorrow and then we start over again. To become stale is to lose our freshness and reality in our communion with Christ, and is meant to be cut off from fellowship. This applies not only to our quiet times, but to the holy celebration when we come together for the remembrance of the Lord in His death, until He comes.