Three Thoughts For Corporate Worship:

Receive, Retain And Reproduce The Word (Bear Fruit).

Matthew 13

20: “But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and ANON WITH JOY RECEIVEITH IT; 21: Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.23: But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.“

“The message was good. The message was brillant --- straight on point. The speaker didn't mince with words at all and the environment was electrifying“

These words are typical and can be heard on the lips of many after hearing an inspiring or thought provoking message. But attempt to ask: “what exactly did the speaker say?“ and many of us will be caught flat footed.

Today, as you attend to corporate worship, here are three points I want you to consider in the worship service.

1: RECEIVE THE WORD
Common to all the hearers in the scriptures above is the fact that they received the word --- they heard the word, they listened to it, they accepted it as the word, they probably might have also taken notes and read all scriptural references.

2: RETAIN THE WORD
Moving away from receiving the word, the difference begins to show. One hearer was shallow with a shallow commitment --- had no root system in their lives to retain or hold unto the message. The other hearer heard the word and had a root system--- understood the word---their commitment was deep.

3: REPRODUCE THE WORD
This is the ultimate --- the word must be lived. What the word says must be implemented Action must back inspiration. The word must yield fruits.

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.“ (James 1:22).

Where Are You Going; Heaven or Hell?

Where are you going? ”Our destination is the place where we are going. In theology it refers to one of two places; either we are going to heaven or we are going to hell. In either case, we cannot cancel the trip. God gives us but two final options. One or the other is our final destination.¹

 When I was growing up, the phrase "Born Again" could be heard on the lips of every zealous young man/woman who had become associated with the charismatic movement. In evangelistic meetings, "Are you Born Again" is the most likely question you will hear. The likely question from proselytising friends was "Are You Born Again?". The expression was ubiquitous. Today, the story is different. The gospel--the preaching of the cross and of eternal life--has vanished into oblivion. In its stead, we have psychology, self-esteem, self-improvement, and prosperity masquerading as gospel on many  pulpits--big and small. Much of the content of our preaching lacks power to convict of sin.

Where are you going? Heaven or Hell? A friend describes it as "a sensitive subject".  Society today will not have anything to do with the idea of heaven or he'll. Did you read hell spelt as he'll? That's an autocorrection I allowed unedited. My smartphone doesn't recognise hell. I have to keep correcting it, anytime I typed it. To be sure what was going on, I typed some words(swear words) and in every instance I type a swear word, my phone autocorrects it. I realised my phone has been programmed to pick hell  as a swear word or so I thought. I think our society doesn't take hell serious. To us it is only a swear word, not a place where God wil punish sinners in eternity. Eternity; either eternal life or damnation cannot be glossed over, though a "sensitive" subject as described by my friend.

Where are you going? Heaven or Hell?  Let me rephrase the question because you might have been growing weary of it. Are you Born Again? In John 3:3, Jesus gave us the--sine qua non---prerequisite of entering the Kingdom of God:"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

The necessity for being Born Again as a condition to enter God's kingdom---eternal life---can be seen from the use of the literal device of repitition: "Truly, Truly...". I believe Jesus meant to drive home clearly a non-negotiable: "You must be Born Again"

The starting point for all of us is to acknowledge we are sinners separated from God by sin brought upon the whole human race by the fall and disobedience of Adam. All, without Christ, are spiritually dead; a consequence of Adam's disobedience. So we all carry in our bloodline Original sin.(Romans 3:11-12, 23, 5:12).

If  we are spiritually dead(Ephesians 2:1)in sin and separated from God, the only way to be reconciled to Him is to pay and appease Him for His wrath. But by ourselves, we cannot make up and pay for our sins. So God the Father placed our sins upon Jesus as an atonement to save  His people from sin and reconcile us to God through faith. “For God so loved the world, [that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). "...he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."(2 Corinthians 5:21).

Now, the only way to be reconciled to God is to come to saving faith. We cannot save ourselves(Ephesians 2:8). The only hope for us is  God effecting a regenerating work in our hearts by His Spirit. To be Born Again therefore is a work of God and we have to cry out for mercy to be given a heart that believes (Ezekiel 36:25-27).

Would you acknowledge your need of a Saviour? Come just as you are. Forsake your sins. Repent and turn to the Saviour of your soul."But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.(John 1:12-13).

Notes:

1:R. C. Sproul, Chosen By God (1986 Tyndale House Publishers)

Church Reforms In Ghana: My Thoughts

5: The Church Must Pray.

E.M Bounds, in his book, Power Through Prayer wrote that “praying gives sense, brings wisdom, and broadens and strengthens the mind.” Prayer is a catalyst for change. In His sovereignty, God can and does act autonomous of our prayers; yet, He has at the same time ordained we represent Him on earth and has granted us His power of representation through prayer: “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 18:18-19). When we pray, things happen!

Examine these few instances in Scripture where human involvement through prayer brought God’s intervention on earth. In Exodus 3:7, Israel’s deliverance from bondage was set in motion when God heard their cry (prayers). Daniel 2:17 records the story of Daniel, who faced with the threat of death, entreated his colleagues for prayer (Daniel 2:17). In Acts 12, the timely intervention of the Church’s prayer stayed the hands of Herod from beheading Peter(vs 5 ). Acts 12 was just a fanfare killing. Herod derived pleasure from killing to please the Jews: “Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of : John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) (vs 1-3).

If we don’t pray, the devil enjoys a field day in harassing God’s people. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2:11 that “…we are not ignorant of [Satan’s] devices”. He comes to steal, kill and destroy.(John 10:10). In contemporary times, the revivals and reforms recorded in Church history were birthed in prayers. Equally, if today’s Church will experience any reforms; men and women must rise to the occasion and pray. Someone might quip: “are we not already praying enough?” Yes we are — In fact every day in this nation, there is a prayer meeting. But the fact however is that; most of our prayer meetings are egocentric and highly individualistic it can’t birth any reforms amongst us. “God give me…God bless me…God open doors for me….etc.” are words that can be heard echoing from our prayer meetings.

When those in the early centuries met to pray, they prayed down revival on their cities. The advent of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movement in our country is equally on record to have been birthed by intense prayers for souls and the nation. We in these times have however become too fixated with our individual selves in our prayers. Our self-centred prayers won’t bring any reforms. There’s a place for personal prayers and personal revivals I must admit, but when we are revived as individuals, we have to seek the revival of the masses. “…The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.” (Luke :10:2)

One classic example of the efficacy of prayer is recorded in 1 Kings 17:1: And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. After many generations, James captured this same event to encourage us to know the power available to us through prayer. He wrote: “…The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit (James 5:16-18). “Elias [Elijah] was a man subject to like passions as we are…” clearly illustrates Elijah was human just like us —with weaknesses and shortcomings—yet he used the power of prayer mightily).

“We are not praying effectively enough. The fervency of our prayer is not strong enough. Jesus said men ought to pray and not faint. Paul said we should pray without ceasing. We have had enough seminars [and talk] on prayer. Let us [now begin to] pray.” EastWood Anaba, Extra Oil