WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER MISS A CHURCH MEETING DELIBERATELY

03/24/2023

"And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrew 10:24-25)

There is a predetermined objective for your spiritual education. Ephesians 4:11 says, "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." God's objective is that you reach the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. You can bet your life that He has supplied everything required for you to get to this objective in this life. You don't need to do anything about your spiritual education except make yourself available to the tutor that He has assigned you, that is, your pastor. 

The reason is that there is also a designated place for your spiritual education and from time to time, depending on your hunger and capacity, the Holy Spirit moves you closer to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ by providing you with the required customized diet necessary for you to grow into His desired stature for you. 

For illustrative purposes, and to grasp God's view about the place where He meets with you, let's look at Numbers 11 and if you will in your private time, read the entire chapter. In Numbers 11:16, the Bible says, "So the LORD said to Moses: “Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you." For perspective, God knows and ordains the number of every church. When a meeting is called, it is a meeting that God has called through your set man or set woman and you have been numbered to be in that meeting.

Now, Numbers 11:24-25 says, "So Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD, and he gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tabernacle. Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and He took away some of the Spirit who was upon him and placed Him upon the seventy elders. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. Yet they did not do it again." What the Lord said and did in that meeting was specific to His call for that gathering such that once He was done, that gathering was upgraded according to His design. When a meeting is called the design of the meeting allows the Holy Spirit to perform upgrades as per God's divine objective for you.

However, Numbers 11:26 says, "But two men had remained in the camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but who had not gone out to the tabernacle; yet they prophesied in the camp." Now, you may say, oh but these two didn't go to church but they still partook of the benefit and you will be right but the place they received the Spirit was not lawful and might have led to a consequences that might have even been life-threatening for Eldad and Medad. How can we tell? The conversation between Joshua and Moses. 

"And a young man ran and told Moses, and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, “Moses my lord, forbid them!” (Numbers 11:28). What Eldad and Medad did was not spiritually lawful. When you deliberately miss meetings, it is not spiritually lawful and you can expose yourself to the application of sanctions by the one who has spiritual authority over you. Had Moses not overruled Joshua's petition, Eldad and Medad might have been excluded from the grace that was released on the numbered for that meeting (see Numbers 11:29). That said, when you exclude yourself deliberately from a meeting that the Lord has numbered you to attend, you open yourself up to many disadvantages. 

Recognize that meetings are how the Spirit upgrades us towards God's objectives for us as a church and as individuals. Plan and pray ahead of the meetings you ought to attend and don't exempt yourself willfully ever again because we are all products of divine meetings. 

Have a beautiful day!

Faith-Filled Confession

I recognize that I am a product of many meetings. As I am scheduled to attend these meetings and I attend, I know that the Holy Spirit is upgrading me to measure up to the full stature of Christ. I am never the same after any meeting so, therefore, I leave each meeting to demonstrate an increase in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in my life. Hallelujah!!!

ONE YEAR READING PLAN:  Joshua 9-10; Luke 3