OT: sacrifices made at the Tabernacle Gospels: Jesus took His disciples to the temple Acts: the church would gather in homes & the temple Epistles: written to churches Revelation: saints gathered around the throne Nowhere in the Bible does it justify not gathering w/ other believers
"Our divine Lord has more tenderness for sinners than the whole of us put together." -
Charles Spurgeon
ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON)
Habitual communion with God must be maintained, or our public prayers will be vapid or formal. If there be no melting of the glacier high up in the ravines of the mountain, there will be no descending rivulets to cheer the plain. Private prayer is the drill ground for our more public exercises, neither can we long neglect it without being out of order when before the people.
He who has been by communion with God prepared to minister to the people, is usually of all men present the most fit to engage in prayer.
SERMON ILLUSTRATION (BY SPURGEON)
Spurgeon was a master illustrator. You can use this illustration in your own preaching to describe the power and pleasure of God's Word.
A young man who had never read his Bible was tempted to do so and led to change by the gift of a bookmark presented to him by a relative. The gift was made on the condition that it should be put into his Bible, but should never stop for two days in one place. He meant to shift it and not to read the book, but his eye glanced on a text. After awhile he became interested, by and by he became converted, and then the bookmark was moved with growing pleasure.
I am afraid that even some professing Christians cannot say that they shift their bookmark every day. Probably of all the books printed, the most widely circulated and the least read volume is the word of God. Books about the Bible are read, I fear, more than the Book itself.
Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." — John Wesley
"Grace is the voice that calls us to change and then gives us the power to pull it off." — Max Lucado
There is one reality that cannot be overlooked -- if the husband has not properly fulfilled his obligations to his wife, then she will have a very difficult time reconciling with him or submitting to him. Ephesians 5:25: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
It's a lot easier for wives to follow Biblical instructions for their behavior when they know their husbands are fully submitted to Christ.
The breakdown in a marital relationship happens long before a formal legal separation occurs. It begins slowly as emotional and physical intimacy is replaced with other priorities or interests.
I know people who were once married, yet became "single" against their will (whether by divorce or the death of a spouse). Some are bitter, angry and lonely, while others have found a different type of joy in their singleness By placing their attention upon the kingdom of heaven.
God has saved us. He justified us. And He forgave all the sins that we have committed. He erased them and washed them away. Then He placed His righteousness into our account. God gives this righteousness to us. It isn’t based on what we do for Him.
The devil has declared war on followers of Christ. He wants to keep us away from God. First, he tempts us and traps us. Then he condemns us and accuses us before God. He wants to make disobedient Christians doubly defeated.
“Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him.”
“You always have God’s undivided attention.”
“We must remember that the shortest distance between our problems and their solutions is the distance between our knees and the floor." - Charles Stanley, "Handle with Prayer: Unwrap the Source of God's Strength for Living"
“Behavior is the substance of religion. Belief is the substance of relationship.” - Charles F. Stanley, "God's Way Day By Day"
“Our willingness to wait reveals the value we place on the object we're waiting for.”
The time you spend alone with God will transform your character and increase your devotion. Then your integrity and godly behavior in an unbelieving world will make others long to know the Lord.
“You have to have courage to be obedient to God."
“God’s plan for enlarging His kingdom is so simple- one person telling another about the Savior. Yet we’re busy and full of excuses. Just remember, someone’s eternal destiny is at stake. The joy you have when you meet that person in heaven will far exceed any discomfort you felt in sharing the gospel.”
"We can be tired, weary and emotionally distraught, but after spending time alone with God, we find that He injects into our bodies energy, power and strength.”
“Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do. He reveals to you Who He is.”
“Hellen Keller was blind and deaf when she graduated from college with honors. So what’s your problem?”
“If sympathy is all that human beings need, then the Cross of Christ is an absurdity and there is absolutely no need for it. What the world needs is not "a little bit of love," but major surgery. If you think you are helping lost people with your sympathy and understanding, you are a traitor to Jesus Christ. You must have a right-standing relationship with Him yourself, and pour your life out in helping others in His way— not in a human way that ignores God. ”
“God does not give us overcoming life; He gives us life as we overcome.”
“Our heavenly Father understands our disappointment, suffering, pain, fear, and doubt. He is always there to encourage our hearts and help us understand that He’s sufficient for all our needs. When I accepted this as an absolute truth in my life, I found that my worrying stopped.”
“The circumstances and events that we see as setbacks are oftentimes the very things that launch us into periods of intense spiritual growth.”
“It gives me hope,” writes Kathleen Norris, “that when God gazed on the sleeping Jacob, He looked right through the tough little schemer and saw something good, if only the capacity for awe, for recognizing God, and for worshipping. That Jacob will worship badly, trying to bargain with God, doesn’t seem to matter. God promises to be with him always.”
Once we are honest about our feelings, they can be submitted to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, who desires our emotions to be rooted in His love, reflecting the fruits of His Spirit in healthy, healing ways.
“Grace is getting another chance even though you haven’t earned it or deserve it. (You may not even want it!)”—Fritz Ridenour
Backsliding is a coldness of heart, a loss of love. In a state where sin takes precedence over your relationship with the Lord.
THE shield of faith IS not a shield of emotions. If we base our Christian life on fluctuating emotions, we will quickly suffer defeat.
Many Christians don’t understand the basic message of the gospel. They point to their own works as to why they will go to Heaven. And some people who claim to be Christians think that Jesus Christ isn’t necessarily the only way to God. They think that all roads lead to God, as long as people are sincere in their hearts.
As followers of Jesus Christ, we are in the heat of battle—a spiritual battle, that is. The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 10 that “we are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons”
Letting rumors go unanswered is painful. Letting our desire for vengeance go is painful. Waiting on the Lord for Him to set things straight is also painful. But, we can trust Him to do it right, to have compassion on both us and our offender. Wait on the Lord!
The book of Revelation isn’t scary because we have Heaven to look forward to! Heaven where we will know our family, friends, loved ones, and heroes who have gone before us! Just imagine it! We’ll be there soon and very soon!
Let’s guard our strengths and not let them morph into weaknesses.
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