The Quiet Time Series

  Part 4

Making The QT Work

Christian biography abounds with the fact that those who have moved the world for God have been people of sustained devotional habits.    Yet those of us more ordinary saints often find it difficult to maintain our QT.     There are so many obstacles to overcome.      We have to be determined to stick it out.

In the last Post we talked about why the QT  is important and that we need to be determined to have our QT daily.     Let me lend a word of caution here.      Most people don’t achieve the goal of 7 days a week.     It’s wonderful if you can attain that but most people don’t.     Yet, as I pointed out last time, it takes at least 4 times a week in order for there to be transformational change in our lives.     Consistency is so important.

My goal in this series is to give you some practical tools that will make your QT enjoyable, productive, and life changing. Let’s look at two important factors. 

THE LENGTH OF YOUR QUIET TIME

People often ask, "how long should my Quiet Time be?"       The fact is that there are no hard and fast rules here.      At first even the thought of just a few minutes might be daunting as you ask yourself what you’ll do to fill the time (more about that in future QT Posts). However, as you learn to have an effective QT and experience God’s presence and reap the benefits of your QT, you’ll be looking for ways to lengthen your time alone with God.

The fact is, if you start out thinking you need to spend an hour or even half an hour in your QT you may get discouraged very early and if you get discouraged before you really get started you may be tempted to give up all together.     I don’t want that to happen to you so here are a couple so suggestions.

7 Minutes With God

Years ago I came across a tract called "7 Minutes with God".     No one ever showed me how to have a QT so I found this tract extremely helpful as I began my own devotional life. Here’s how it can work 

½ Min – To Quiet Your Heart and Ask God’s Direction
              Take the first 30 seconds to ask God for direction.
              Ask Him to meet with you and open His Word to you.

3 Min – Reading & Meditating On A Brief Passage Of Scripture

             Read a few verses or a chapter from your Bible.   You can start with the Gospel of John and read through the book chapter by chapter.    At the church where I Pastor, we're encouraging people to read through three essential New Testament books three times through the year.  

Click here to obtain a PDF of "The Essential New Testament Reading.                

                  
* In a future "Post" I’ll be talking about what to look for as you read. For now, look for what it teaches you about God and how it should apply to your life.

3 Min – Praying

Next,  spend 3 minutes just talking to God like you would a trusted friend.     Start out by Praising Him for who He is and just worship Him.     Then share the concerns of your heart for yourself and others and ask God for wisdom to handle all that comes your way today.

½ Min – Committing The Day To God

Finish your time with God committing your day to His glory.     Ask Him to help you honour Him in all you do.

After awhile you may adapt this for your own particular personality and style.      This is intended as a guide to get you started not a straight jacket to constrain you.     The important thing is that you connect with God through His Word and prayer.

Start with 7 minutes and commit yourself to that.       As time goes on you’ll want to lengthen that. Below you’ll find an expanded version.

15 Minutes With God
1 Min – To Quiet Your Heart and Ask God’s Direction

10 Min – Bible Study - take notes

3 ½ Min – Praying

½ Min – Committing The Day To God

As you learn to connect with God you’ll want to think not about how much time you have to spend with God but about what is the maximum time you can carve out of your day to spend with Him. It’s like going to the Gym.      You start out slow and build up.

AIM FOR QUALITY RATHER THAN QUANTITY

Make connecting with God your goal.      Your goal is not to complete a QT, it is to meet with God and to worship Him.     If you miss a QT, don’t get bogged down in guilt.     That accomplishes nothing and is the Devils tool.      If you miss tomorrow, then pick it up the next day.     Spend as much time with Him as you can.

THE PLACE OF YOUR QT

Don’t underestimate the importance of where you have your Quiet Time.     You want to be alone with God with as few distractions as possible.     Most of the time I can’t have my QT at my work desk because there are too many reminders of the work I have to get done that day.     Your QT spot will become a special place in your life where you will meet with God and He will make you more like Jesus.     My wife tells me of her memory of her Dad.     Every morning he would get up early to put the fire on and then sit in the rocking chair to read his Bible and then kneel and pray. As a little she would come downstairs every morning and see her Dad kneeling in front of the rocking chair.  It was his special place to meet with Jesus.

 It Should Be A Place Of Seclusion 

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark,

he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. 

(Mark 1:35)

It seems it was the pattern of Jesus to get alone to pray and I’ve found it important in my own life to be alone with God.     The consciousness of the presence of others will distract your concentration.      If you live in a busy house or dorm its not always easy to get alone. Sometimes getting up early helps to overcome this problem.

Sometimes you might have to be very creative in order to find that secluded spot.     I love to get into the woods or down by the lake but that not always possible.     It might be that you get up early before others, get yourself a cup of coffee, grab your Bible and note book and head for the big chair.     You might close the door to your home office or go to the laundry room.     I’ve heard of some people who have built themselves a little prayer closet in the basement.

But you, when you pray, go into your room,

and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father

who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret

will reward you openly. (Matt 6:6)

 

It might seem impossible to find such a place but at least try to be alone in spirit like Susanna Wesley who would just throw her apron over her head.

It Should Be A Place Of Quietness

There are two kinds of noises that we should avoid.    Avoid "speech".    Don’t have the morning news playing in the background.     Other voices seem to have a way of drawing our attention.     You want to avoid this because your goal is to focus on the voice of god. The other noise to avoid is "music".     That tune will get stuck in your head and not allow you to focus.     Now there is a place for listening to Christian music to help you worship God but for now lets leave that behind.     As much as possible you want to avoid all sounds that will distract you.

 

It Should Be A Place Free From Distractions

You want to focus these few moments on God so you want to avoid all distractions, especially distractions of the eyes that might pull you away.     I guess that’s why some people have developed their own prayer closets.

I think the idea is that you want to plan for concentration.       Be comfortable but don’t get too comfortable especially if its early in the morning and you might tend to fall asleep.     I just bought a big reclining chair which I won’t use in the mornings for this very reason.  It is just too comfortable.      If you do fall asleep get up and change your position.     I love to pray on my knees but for some people that would put them in danger of falling asleep on their knees.     I like to get up and walk around the room as I pray.   Find what works for you.

BE DETERMINED

The world makes not time for the Quiet Time so you must determine in your heart to cultivate your relationship with Christ.     The pressures of life will seek to crowd out the QT so you must be prepared.       The Devil will resist you. You must resist him. You must fight back because spending time alone with God is the most important thing you will do in any given day.     Here is a bit of a summary.

1. Determine That You Will Have A Daily Quiet Time

2. Choose A Set Time Each Day

3. Select A Practical Place

Nothing is more important in your day then your time with God.      Remember, God wants your friendship. Time alone with Him each day is not only good for you, it is precious to God.

Nothing Is More Important In Your Day Then Your Time With God.

Making The Quiet Time Work 

Part 3

 Quiet Time Series

Alright,  so we've seen that God actually longs for your friendship and how important the QT is.    However,  It’s one thing to recognize the importance of the QT to our spiritual growth.    It's another thing to actually start doing it.   It’s one thing to desire intimacy with God and for us to enjoy fellowship with Him, it’s a another thing to actually experience it.    Most of us need some help getting started.

Over the years I’ve had so many people say they would have a regular QT but they don’t know how to get started.     No one has ever shown them how.     I can’t be with you in person but my hope is that over the next few days as you come back to "Pastor Rick’s Study" I’ll be able to help you deal with some of the practical aspects of having a regular and consistent Quiet Time where you actually connect with God.     However, please realize that it takes time and the more you do it the better you will become and the more natural it will feel.     Best of all, you’ll discover new ways of connecting with God and your daily QT will become an exciting time you’ll look forward to.    So, let’s get started.

REASONS FOR THE QUIET TIME
There are many reasons to maintain your QT but let me give you two primary ones.

God Personally Invites You To Commune With Him

How exciting is that.    God wants and longs for your friendship.    If your favourite celebrity invited you to dinner or to hang out together, wouldn’t you jump at the opportunity.   Sure you would.    How much better that the God of the Universe wants to hang out with you.
Remember, God is graciously inviting you to commune with Him. He wants your relationship with Him to be cultivated.

Times Alone With God Are Vital To Spiritual Growth

There is just no away around it.    You need time with God to build your relationship.
 

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him,

he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

 You cannot, I repeat, you cannot, grow spiritually without intimate connection with God Himself. Period.    If you neglect this principle, you may talk the talk, you may have the surface appearance of a growing Christian but the tall tell signs will eventually appear in hour life.     It may not show in overt sin, or open rebellion but it will show and you will know it in lost intimacy.


WHEN TO HAVE THE QUIET TIME?
This question always comes up and I’m though I don’t think there is any hard and fast rules there are some good guidelines.

It Should Be Daily And It Should Be Regular

Daily of course is ideal but realistically is probably isn’t going to happen for most of us.    A recent survey of over 600,000 believers revealed that a minimum of 4 times a week is what it takes to foster real life transformation.     Just like you have to eat food on a regular daily basis to be physically healthy, so you need to feed your soul daily.

The question then is, "what part of the day should I have my QT?"     Here are a few suggestions.

•  Do It At The Time Most Convenient For You
There is no Biblical mandate as to the best time. Pick the time that works for you

•  Do It In The Morning If You Can
There are lots of examples of great people who had their QT in the morning. Jesus is one. King David was another,  Martin Luther, John Wesley, Pastor Rick.    Well okay, maybe the last one isn't so great but I find the morning is the best time as do many others.
 

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD;

In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up. (Psalm 5:3)

 In the morning your mind is fresh.    At least for most people.     However if you are not a morning person, if your mind doesn’t wake up until your body has been in motion for a while then you might find having your QT in the morning to be less than productive and you’ll want to find a time of day when you are more alert.     All of us have a natural body rhythm and we should devote quality time to building our relationship with God.

I find that having my QT in the morning works best (though I am a night owl by nature).  It starts my day off right.     Let’s face it, every day comes with new challenges and we need God’s strength and God’s mind to face those challenges.     I have also found that my days are so full of commitments and time demands that if I don’t have my QT in the morning before my day starts, it’s probably not going to happen.

Now, there is a cost to having an early morning QT.     We live in a world that has no time for it.     Your boss is not likely suggest you take a few moments out of the work day to spend some time with God.    Your kids are not going to volunteer to leave you alone while you spend time with God.   (Though Susanna Wesley would throw her apron up over her head and her 16 or so children knew she was communing with God and was to be left alone until the apron came down).    The activities of life will just crowd out the QT.     Whether its in the morning or at some other time, you’ll have to carve out time for your QT and the morning seems like the best time to do that.

Now here’s the catch.      Who wants to give up that sleep?     And unless you have assurance that God is calling you to meet Him in the morning, the first temptation will be to turn off the alarm and get a few more minutes sleep.

Nothing In Life Is More Difficult To Maintain

As The Early Morning Quiet Time.

You may find yourself saying, " I find it difficult to get up early", so it will take some discipline and you may need to change your bedtime routine.       Go to bed on time.     Late nights are the relentless enemy of the QT.     Believe me, I know.    I am a night owl so I have to fight this on a regular basis.     The Devil will fight you every step of the way and you need to fight back.      Pray the night before and ask the Lord to help you awake in the morning.     Let your last thought at night and your first thought in the morning be of your Saviour.

The bottom line is that the morning may be the best time but, whatever time of the day you choose, stick with it and be regular.      Make it a regular habit at the same time each day.

In the next Post I’ll give you some practical suggestions as to how much time is sufficient and just what to do during your QT.     Meanwhile, get started.     Take a few moments in the morning (or whenever you choose) and start out by asking God to guide you and meet with you.     Then spend a few moments reading your Bible asking God to teach you something about Him (more of that in future Posts).      Think about what you’ve read and meditate upon it though the day.     Finish your time off by giving God praise and talking to God about the things and people that concern you.

God Bless you as you build your relationship with the God of the universe and be sure to check back tomorrow as we talk about the actual mechanics of your QT.

God Bless You
Pastor Rick

 

THE WONDER OF

GOD'S PRESENCE

# 1 The Quiet Time Series  (Part 2)

"The Most Important Thing You Will Do Today

Is Spend Time Alone With God."


 

The Quiet Time is a time you set aside each day to spend alone with God and is a most important factor in your spiritual maturity.    As we saw in our last Post, it is an amazing wonder that God actually longs for our friendship and fellowship and therefore it is vital that we cultivate this friendship.   Let’s take a look at why cultivation is so important and the real goal of the QT.


Cultivating The Wonder
Of course every friendship needs to be cultivated. God’s daily approach to His people requires daily response and a yielding of the will.    Your friendship with God needs to be cultivated every day.    He invites you to out with Him and spend time with Him.

Your friendship with God needs to be cultivated every day.

 The question is, "are we prepared to make the sacrifice of time in order that our love for Him may grow steadily to maturity?"    When we come before Him in the right spirit, every moment we spend is more than worth it.     Neglect everything else before you neglect to cultivate your friendship with God.

Neglect everything else before you neglect to cultivate your friendship with God.

 I am struck by the fact that even Jesus cultivated His friendship with the Father. He enjoyed spontaneous and unbroken communion with the Father and yet He constantly found it necessary, even in the midst His incredibly busy ministry schedule, to put aside definite times for prayer and quietness in order cultivate this friendship.
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. (Mark 1:35)

When talking about the Quiet Time, the most common response is, "I don’t have time."    It’s not as though Jesus was not busy, yet He protected these times of intimacy with the Father. We too, in the business of life, must protect our Quiet Times with God.     It is in fact the most important thing you will do in the course of a day.


The Secret Of The Wonder
Jesus counted His times alone with the Father not only necessary but also as precious and joyful and hallowed times.    The Quiet Time is not only necessary but it is precious.     The reason it is precious is because it brings you right into the presence of God to enjoy His fellowship.     The real joy of the QT springs from the sense of His presence.     It is the Divine Presence that gives joy to the QT.

The real joy of the QT springs from the sense of His presence.  

It is the Divine Presence that gives joy to the QT.

 In order to experience and enjoy His presence, I have learned to ask myself several key questions.

Am I Coming Before Him Fully Aware That I Come Only Though The Blood Of Jesus?   The only right I have to come into God’s presence is the shed blood of Christ for my sins.     My enjoyment of God’s fellowship is based on my union with Christ.

Am I Coming In Faith That God Will Really Meet With Me?   Attitude is everything.    If I don’t expect to meet with God personally, I probably won’t.

Am I Coming To Commune With My Saviour, Or Simply To Bring My Shopping List?   The purpose of the QT is not to get stuff from God.    Stuff is so fleeting and will soon be gone. Stuff soon becomes the idol that steals your heart.    What you’re really after is the enjoyment of God’s presence.    In fact I believe that seeking God’s face and experiencing His presence is the secret of a successful, exciting QT.

The Quiet Time soon becomes barren if it becomes routine.
 

 The Quiet Time soon becomes barren if it becomes routine.    The object of the QT is to enter God’s presence to hear His voice and enjoy His presence.    When you focus on God Himself and experience His Divine Presence it is shear bliss that will strengthen you for your daily journey.

Yes, God longs for you to draw near to Him.    He longs for you to experience the depth of His love and mercy and joy of His presence.     He wants to bless you with al the riches of heaven. He wants to bless you with His presence.    May your heart long after Him.

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. (Psalm 42:1)

 

(In the next "Quiet Time Series" blog we’ll look at "How To Make The QT Work For You").

THE WONDER OF

GOD'S PRESENCE

# 1 The Quiet Time Series  (Part 1)
(The "Quiet Time" alone with God every day is probably the most profound thing you can do to grow to maturity in Christ.   Over the course of the first week of a New Year I want to offer you some inspiration and practical steps to help you develop a consistent and exciting daily QT experience). 

"The Most Important Thing You Will Do Today

Is Spend Time Alone With God."

These words hang over the computer desk in my study.   They remind me that in the business of life, when the pressures of life cry out for my time, I must, with all diligence seek the face of God.    It is there that I gain the strength to face the challenges of life and power for my ministry.   If I fail to maintain my "Quiet Time" I fail to maintain my life and I miss out on the unbelievable privilege of having intimate fellowship with God.   But even more than that, If I fail to maintain my Quiet Time, I rob God of the privilege of fellowship with me.

"If I fail to maintain my Quiet Time,
 I rob God of the privilege of fellowship with me."

 
Now before you dispute that statement as narcissistic or self absorbed, consider the fact that the very nature and purpose of God in redemption was that God might enjoy fellowship with us.    The God of the universe desires a close personal friendship with you.

"The God of the universe desires a close personal friendship with you."

The Wonder Of God’s Friendship
When you think about it, God deeply longs for your friendship.    When sin entered the world through Adam and Eve it brought separation from God.    Sin comes between us.    Adam and Eve hid themselves from God.    Even to this day, sin separates us from God.     But God in mercy kicked His plan of redemption into gear with the promise of a Saviour who would crush the head of the serpent and restore our fellowship with God.

In fact, Christ came into the world to woo lost rebellious humanity back to God.
God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) 
He so longs to fellowship with us that He Himself took on human flesh to redeem us.

Often we are so aware of our own short comings and unworthiness that we can’t image that God would long to have intimacy with us but is true.     He loves us.    His love is the basis of this longing.    If we only knew, God desires our friendship and longs for us more than we long for Him.

If we only knew, God desires our friendship

and longs for us  more than we long for Him.
 

Christ coming into the world was and is God’s offer to renew the friendship that was lost in the garden.    Jesus Himself told us that the Father is seeking those to worship Him.
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:23-24)
Think of it. This is amazing.    God is seeking men and women and boys and girls who will walk with Him and worship Him.    He actually longs for us.     He gave His own Son to bring us back to Him to enjoy this incredible intimacy with Him.    God longs for our worship and friendship.

Don’t Miss The Wonder
The wonder of God’s desire for our friendship is lost to many of us and can be lost to any one of us.     Many of us take God’s love for granted and the wonder and amazement that God wants our friendship is lost.

Many of us take God’s love for granted

and the wonder and amazement that God wants our friendship is lost.
 

We must never forget the wonder of reconciliation through which God gives us direct access into His presence.    Just think of it.    God longs for your fellowship and through Christ, at great cost, has made it possible for you to enter His presence and enjoy His fellowship.     It is absolutely amazing that the God of the universe desires and made possible your intimate fellowship with Him.

It is absolutely amazing that the God of the universe

desires and has made possible your intimate fellowship with Him.

(Check back each day during the first week of January for a complete series of Posts designed to inspire you and give you practical help in developing a daily Quiet Time which is without doubt the greatest thing  you can do to grow to maturity.     Next Post will focus on how to cultivate intimacy with God).

Christmas, Super Heroes, and the Great Cosmic Conflict

 

There is Evil but there is Good.   There is a constant fight between good and evil.   There is Judgement but there is Deliverance.    There is Despair but There Is Hope. 

This fight is classically portrayed in the classic comic book character SUPERMAN¹. Remember that Superman is "Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!".

In the classic fight between Good and Evil, Metropolis is a city tormented and harassed by evil villains and needs a good hero who will overcome the evil.

In the 1978 Superman Movie, Super Man does not show up in the movie until half way through the movie.     The writers spend a whole hour and a quarter setting the scene for the arrival of Superman.     You cannot appreciate the importance, power and liberation of Superman until you understand the hopelessness and despair that engulfs the city.


The writers set it up so that you feel that all the people of Metropolis are a half-breath away from drowning in a quagmire of deep woe and absolute hopeless despair as evil grips the city.     Once you know and feel the depth of despair that evil has brought to the city Superman shows up on the scene to overcome evil and save the city.

 

 

The Great Cosmic Conflict

But this fight between Good and Evil is not just the stuff of Hollywood movies. It is the very fabric of life in the real world.     In fact Christmas is confronts us with the Great Cosmic Conflict.    We may not recognize it but we are in the midst of this Great Cosmic Conflict that has eternal consequences and has us in a quagmire of deep woe and absolute despair as evil grips humanity and leaves us in despair and without hope in the world.     Like in the movie, we cannot fully appreciate the Super Hero of Christmas until we fully understand the state of despair that we are in.      We will not cry out for deliverance unless we know the full depth of our enslavement.

In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:3-5)

To fully grasp the conflict and the true dynamic of Christmas we have to go all the way back to the first book of the Bible, Genesis, where we find the creation story.
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Genesis 1:31)
Everything God created was very good and in harmony with the creator until Satan, the Evil One steps unto the pages of human history.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" (Genesis 3:1)
And now, the fight is on.     From the very early days of human existence, The Great Cosmic Conflict between good and evil has been unleashed on the world.    It actually started in Heaven when Lucifer a created angel of God rebelled against the reign of God Almighty and was flung out of heaven.
How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! 13 You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' (Isaiah 14:12-14)
The scars of his rebellion are seen down through the corridors of time.    The destruction, the inhumanity against humanity, the carnage, the selfishness, the sinfulness, the brokenness, are evident everywhere. Metropolis, the world, as if ruled by an invisible but very real Joker or Lex Luthor, seems irrecoverable, held in the grip of evil.

On the one hand there is our loving Heavenly Father who as our creator has provided us with all good things and desires our good.     On the other is Satan, the Evil One, who in his lust to usurp the authority of God cares not who he destroys in his quest to rule over God. So, this fight between Good and Evil is not just the stuff of Hollywood movies.     It is real life.    If you follow the story line of the Bible through its entirety you know that God has a Super Hero who will come to triumph over evil.     Who will come to deliver His people.
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15)
The promise of the incarnation of the Son of God to crush the serpent (evil) was made right there in the garden, but at times it seemed like the Hero would never show. Like in the Superman movie, the writer of the script, God, seems to take forever to introduce the hero.. Metropolis is left seemingly in the grip of evil and hopelessness. The story unfolds painfully slow and then, in the fullness of time, at just the right moment, the Hero arrives. You cannot fully appreciate the freedom He brings until you fully understand the bondage under which you live.

You cannot fully appreciate the freedom He brings

until you fully understand the bondage under which you live.

Enter The Hero Of Hope And Deliverance

Into a world in desperate need for deliverance steps our hero, the Incarnate Son of God, born of a virgin.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:23)
Christmas reminds us that God Himself steps unto the page of human history to be our hero, to be our deliverer.    When all hope is gone, when it seems like all is lost and nothing else could release us from the grip of sin and Hell and Satan, our hero comes to be born in a manger, live a perfect life, die to purchase our salvation and raise again to deliver us.
It may seem strange but I think 1 Timothy 1:1-2 are the perfect Christmas verses to remind us that our hero has come to set us free. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Saviour and of Christ Jesus our hope, 2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. (1 Timothy 1:1-2)
　
GOD OUR SAVIOUR - "Deliverer"
Most often He is referred to as "Christ our Saviour" but here in the Pastoral Epistles Paul uses the phrase "God our Saviour".    He is the one who saves us from sin and judgement and the tyranny of the Evil one.    It is God who saves us, who sets us free, who gives us new life.
 
JESUS CHRIST OUR HOPE
In the midst of the Cosmic Conflict, it is Christ who is our source of our hope.    Who in fact, is our hope.     Hope means not a ‘hope so’, but a confident certainly held with firm conviction.     As we celebrate the birth of Christ, Christmas reminds us that in our troubled world, when all seems lost, our hope is fixed steadfast in Jesus Christ.
To hope in Christ, then, is to live a life characterized by confidence in the future as a result of trusting in Christ regardless of the circumstances under which you are now living.     Your hope is not in politicians, not in the good life, not in financial security.     In the midst of the Great Cosmic Conflict, your hope is in our Hero, Jesus Christ who comes from heaven to deliver you from the grips of evil and has promised you an eternity free the from conflict and harassment of evil.

No matter how dark your days. No matter how terrifying the conflict. No matter how hopeless your situation seems to be. Christmas tells us that our hero stepped unto the pages of human history to give us an enduring hope that will carry us into eternity.

 

1. According to Wikipedia Joseph Shuster was born in Toronto, Ontario, to a Jewish family. His father, Julius, an immigrant from Rotterdam, had a tailor shop in Toronto's garment district. His mother, Ida, had come from Kiev in Ukraine. His family, including his sister, Jean, lived on Bathurst, Oxford, and Borden Streets, and Shuster attended Ryerson and Lansdowne Public School in Toronto.. One cousin is comedian Frank Shuster of the Canadian comedy team Wayne and Shuste the great Canadian comedy team.. When he was about 9 years old Shuster moved to Cleveland Ohio where he met Jerry Siegel who would eventually become his partner in the creation of Superman.  

 

 

 

 

 

Why Every Christian

Should

Join Their Local Church

 

Every Christian ought to be a church member.     Not just an attender but a full fledged member of a local church for the same reasons my Bride and I do not just live together or hang out together.       We have Covenanted Together.     We have pledged our commitment to each other

It’s sad that in our day even believers often take a shallow view of the importance of the church and a very shallow view of what it means to be a Church Member.     The fact is that God has called us to be members together – to be in Covenant together as the Bride of Christ.

 

What does it mean to be a member?

To become a member of a church is to formally commit oneself to an identifiable, local body of believers who have joined together for specific, divinely ordained purposes. These purposes include receiving instruction from God’s Word (1 Tim. 4:13; 2 Tim. 4:2), serving and edifying one another through the proper use of spiritual gifts (Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12:4-31; 1 Pet. 4:10-11), participating in the ordinances (Luke 22:19; Acts 2:38-42), and proclaiming the gospel to those who are lost (Matt. 28:18- 20). In addition, when one becomes a member of a church, they submit themselves to the care and the authority of the biblically qualified elders that God has placed in that assembly. ¹ (I am sorry but I do not know where this quote comes from so I cannot cite it).

Let me give you several reasons why you should join a local church, but first let's see if we can use just one verse of scripture that will help us see why we need to be a member of a local church.

Two Questions From Hebrews 13:17

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Hebrews 13:17)

 

Now, let’s ask ourselves two questions that this verse helps us answer.

1. What Leaders Are You To Obey?

The passage instructs believers to "obey your leaders."      If you’re not a member of a local church, what Leaders are you commanded to Obey?      Are we to obey just anyone with the title of "Elder", from any church? Are we to obey the TV Evangelist who call for us to send the $ 1,000 of ‘seed’ money so that God can bless us.      Are we to obey every wacko religious leader who says he is an apostle or prophet or whatever?      Are we to obey the crazy leaders of "Westboro Baptist Church", or other religious sects.     Who are we to obey.

Scripturally we are to obey those leaders who have been appointed in your local church. The local church is God’s plan for the world. The local church is God’s idea.

 

2. Who Will Leaders Give An Account For?
The passage also reminds us that these leaders will have to give an account of how they shepherded the people under their care. Who are they to give an account of. Scripture clearly tells Elders to care for the local flock, the assembly of God’s people. (1 Peter 5:1-5; Acts 20:29-30).

Will I as a Pastor, or our Elders be held accountable for all the Christians in Toronto? There are many churches in GTA with various and even false doctrine, will we be held accountable for them. Will we be accountable for those who come here on Sundays but make no commitment to be accountable. No, these kinds of instructions can only work when there is a recognizable local church membership.

No, these kinds of instructions can only work

when there is a recognizable local church membership.
 

6 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CHURCH MEMBER

 

 

1. It’s Biblical    
Believers in the New Testament were connected to a local church.     There is a whole lot of instructions in the New Testament that only make sense if there is a recognizable church membership that is making itself accountable to one another.

For example, in Acts 5:12-13, it says:
 Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. 13 None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. (Acts 5:12-13)

Those outside the church had great respect for Christians but wouldn’t ‘join’.      The word literally means "to glue or cement" something together.      Its not referring to an informal, assumed relationship but rather one where you chose to "glue" yourself to others.      This makes sense only in the context of "membership".      In fact, much of the language in Acts only makes sense in context of Church Membership. (ie. "The Whole Church" (15:17) "The Elders" (20:17).

 

 

2. It Declares Your Identity With Christ And His People
In the Book of Acts, the believers are identifying themselves with each other.     They are stating before God and others that you belong to Christ and stand with His followers.

Many people seem to prefer a dating relationship with the church whereas it ought to be like a marriage.     Like Marriage, real fellowship is hard work.     In a marriage you don’t run off at the first sign of trouble.      Membership says "I’m committed to Christ and His People. Being a Church Member in a low-commitment culture is making a powerful counter-culture statement and highlights the importance of Christ and His Church.     It says, "I’m here to give, more than to get.

 

 

3. It Provides You A Community Of Edification
The whole purpose of church is community.     It is the place we learn to live out the "one another" lifestyle" of scripture.     It is the place where are challenged and where we grow. Sure, you can experience some of that as an adherent or casual attender, but the real growth is in the commitment we make to one another as ‘community’.
 

 

4. It Places You Under The Care Of Godly Shepherds
As we saw in Hebrews 13:17, membership puts us officially under the spiritual care of the Elders of our local church.     Yes, good and godly Elders will care for those who are not members simply because they care, but they have no authority in the lives of those who are not members.

The very existence of Church Government with its plurality of Elders and their responsibility to care for the flock presupposes a clearly defined group of church members.     It presupposes a defined flock of those who have submitted themselves under the authority of the God appointed Elders.

In addition, only membership really provides accountability.     It’s the place where we keep each other accountable in an informal way as we fellowship and challenge each other. It also provides accountability in a moral formal way as we submit ourselves to church discipline.     Formal membership is a form of submission to the Shepherd leadership God has provided His Church.     Those who do not become members of a local church take themselves out from under the umbrella of protection that is afforded church members.

I jokingly say (yet there is much truth in it), "You gotta join the church so we can throw you out."     Now don’t get lost in my humour.     The Bible gives clear instructions concerning church discipline.     None of which makes sense without formal membership.     In fact if you do not become a member of a church, you take yourself out from under this protection of accountability.     Discipline is not meant as a way of punishment but rather as a safeguard of accountability.

I like to talk in terms of the "Protective Umbrella Of The Church."     As you submit yourself to local church accountability you place yourself under its protection.     In fact I think this is what Paul is referring to when he tells the Corinthian Church that they had to deal with the sinful man who had his father’s wife.

You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,

so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord (1 Cor 5:5)

 

 

When we take ourselves out from under this Protective Umbrella of the local church we are much easier prey for the enemy.

5. It Unites You In A Global Mission
The Great Commission of Matthew 28 is the marching orders of the Church.     Yes you can and should be a witness for Christ in your school or at your work or wherever you may find yourself.     However, these are the marching orders of the Church and those we would bring to Christ are to become part of a local church.     By joining ourselves to a local church, we commit ourselves to the Great Commission of Christ.

 

 

6. It Gives Visible Demonstration To The Reality Of Christ

We are Christ’s Body in the world.     The world knows and sees Jesus through us.     As I pointed out in the previous post, we are the Visible Demonstration Of Christ In The World.

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Wendy and I didn’t decide to live together.      We didn’t just date.     We decided to make a commitment to each other. It has been good.     In the same way, when we look at the New Testament it becomes clear that God’s plan for us is to be part of a local covenant community of faith for our own protection and maturity as well as for the edification of others.

If we view church as some sort of ecclesiological buffet, then we severely limit the likelihood of our growing into maturity.     Growth into godliness can hurt.     For instance, as we interact with others in my our local body, our own slothfulness in zeal is exposed, as is our lack of patience, our prayerlessness, and our hesitancy to associate with the lowly.     Yet this interaction also gives us the opportunity to be lovingly confronted by brothers and sisters who are in the trenches with us, as well as a safe place to confess and repent.     But when church is just a place we attend without ever joining, like an ecclesiological buffet, we just might consider whether we’re always leaving whenever our heart begins to be exposed by the Spirit, and the real work of spiritual growth is beginning to happen.

What’s the bottom line?

 

Local church membership is

not a question of personal preference

but of biblical obedience.

 

1.    I am sorry but I do not know where this quote comes from so I cannot cite it.

 

 



The Bride Of Christ

I’ve been involved in a lot of weddings over the years.    I’ve seen a lot of beautiful brides.     But there was one wedding where the Bride was so unbelievably beautiful. When she stepped through the door at the back of the church my heart skipped several beats, the voice in my head said,  "Man, I wish I could marry that women."    Then she stated down the isle of the church.

It was December but I started to sweat - because she started to walk towards where I was standing.    It was December 27, 1975 and I was the Groom and this beautiful women was about to be my Bride.

We stood there at the front of the church and made a covenant together.  I looked at her and said:
"I, Rick, take you, Wendy, to be my lawful wedded wife, to love you and honour you as Christ loves and honours His church, to guide and direct our home according to God's Holy Word, having Christ as the true head of our home."

She looked in my eyes and said:
"I, Wendy, take you, Rick, to be my lawful wedded husband; for where you go, I will go; and where you live, I will live; your people shall be my people and your God my God:   Where you die, will I die, and there will I be buried:   The Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part you and me".  

We took that Covenant seriously.    There have been times of sickness and health, times of better and times of worst, times of plenty and times of want.     But on that day almost 38 years ago we were bound together as one in Christ.    We are not the perfect couple, but over those years our love has grown stronger, with every laugh and tear, and sorrow and victory we have experienced together, we have become more committed to one another, and we have forsaken all others that we might keep only unto each other so long as we both shall live.    In this we have Covenanted together. In just a few short weeks, on December 27, we will have been married for thirty eight wonderful years.

There is a point of me telling you this romantic story.    You know that the church is the Bride of Christ.     He gave Himself on the Cross for Her. Christ loves His bride.   He Cherishes and nourishes His Bride and someday will present His Church, His Bride, in Heaven in all glory and splendour. 

I tell you this because in our day, the Church, the Bride of Christ, is often neglected and abused.


After 200 years of having a favoured place in Canada our culture increasingly seeks to discredit the church and move it to the margins.     In a culture that is increasingly and now perhaps almost completely secular, the church is devalued and its message considered unimportant.      Even we who say we are the church increasingly ignore it and say we are disillusioned with the Bride of Christ.     Some would even say the church, the Bride of Christ, is not important to their spiritual journey.

But,  just as my love for my beautiful bride has not diminished in these 38 years,  Christ’s love for His Bride The Church has not diminished.     He still passionately loves His church. He continues to cherish it and nurture it because He has a purpose for His church in the world that will ultimately culminated in Heaven.

The Church: The Visible "Kingdom of Heaven" on earth

The Bride is here on earth to be the Visible Kingdom of Heaven.     We The Church are citizens of Heaven to display the glory of God in the World.     In spite of how many ignore and even berate the Church,  it is vitally important to the purposes and plans of God for the world.

The Church Was Established By Christ Himself
 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matt 16:18)
    
No other Institution,  No other organization on earth was established by Christ Himself.    He is Building His Church because through it He is  going to push the forces of darkness and evil right back to the very gates of Hell itself.     The Church is God’s Plan for the World. There is nothing, no organization in the world that you can be involved in that is more important than the church.  

 
The Church Was Inaugurated At Pentecost Acts 2
The disciples were told to wait for the power of the Spirit to come.    And come He did,   like a mighty rushing wind that empowered Christ’s followers and ushered 3,000 souls into the Kingdom of God that were added to the church and the church was born.     Jesus was to ascend into Heaven but He leaves His church to accomplish the work of redemption, the very work for which He left heaven, for which He planned before the foundation of the world.

The Church was never meant to be a holy huddle, but a rescue station on the rocky shores of human ruin and Satanic attack.

The Church Is The Visible Manifestation Of Christ In The World
He has ascended into heaven but His Church is the Visible Manifestation Of Christ In The World.

Wow! Did you get that?     We The Church, are the Visible Manifestation of Christ in the World.     That’s not only Important.     That’s Vital and we better take it seriously.     We are here to be the Demonstration of Christ in the World.

The word "church" comes from the Greek word "Ekklesia" and designates the visible "Kingdom of Heaven" on earth.     "Ek" means "from out of" and "Kaleo" means "to call" or "to call out from" and indicates a selected assembly of people.     Most of the time the word "church" is used in the New Testament, it speaks of a local body of believers. If fact of the 115 times it is used, 90 of those times it refers to the local assembly.

Christ is no longer physically present among us.     He has accomplished the work of redemption and now fulfills His priestly role in heaven interceding on our behalf as we in the power of His Holy Spirit manifest Him to the world.      We are the Visible Manifestation of Christ in the World.     If we do not take that seriously, we do not understand how precious the Bride is to the Groom.

Just as a husband and wife become one flesh, we are one in Christ to demonstrate Him to a lost and dying world.      We are the visible manifestation on Christ in the world.     Let us love the Bride of Christ.     Let us be the Bride of Christ.    And let us reflect Him well.

(The next blog post, later this week, will outline several reasons why

every follower of Christ should be an official member of a local church)