Established in the local Church - Pastor’s Heart

Hi Folks!

Praise the Lord did you see that? There are some mighty promises in those verses - wow! We all want to be blessed and live a long, healthy, fruitful life - right? Of course we do and this was the way we were wired by the Creator, to love and enjoy life to the full. These precious promises are available to anyone who will apply themselves to the conditions written either side of them. This is the last message of the "Three Goals for every Christian" and this is what I would like to have a quick chat with you about today.

The promises in the above verses are awesome and I encourage you to have a good look at them and ask yourself the question, "Do I want to have a life like this while I'm on the earth?" Because, written within the verses themselves, there are only two things given for us to do...

1. Live uncompromisingly righteously
2. Be planted in the Church

Now before going any further I want to clarify something. The Lord did not promise these wonderful benefits to those who "want" to live righteously, or to those that "wish" they were planted in the local Church, but to those who "are". There is a big difference in wanting to do something and actually doing it. I've heard a lot of folks over the years promise me many things (probably promising God many things also), but to not follow through by doing them. What is this? They are just saying empty words with no true heart and commitment behind them. Those kind of folks who are always wanting and promising and wishing, but never following through with any sort of commitment, fall by the wayside and never do anything of eternal significance for the Kingdom of God. They don't receive the promises of God and they don't walk in His peace, because they disqualify themselves by being disobedient children.

Our Father God does not show favouritism to anyone but pours out His loving-kindness and blessings on anyone who will live right and believe right. If you are not one who is qualifying for His blessings right now, maybe it could all change today as you receive some wisdom from the Lord through this last message. I say, thank God for His love and thank God for giving us the opportunity to repent of the error of our ways through the blood of His Son Jesus! God wants the very best for you and I but He will not force it upon us. It is our choice whether we obey what He says, and it is our choice as to whether we are going to believe His great and precious promises and receive them into our life through faith and patience.

Uncompromisingly Righteous

There is a righteousness that is imparted into our heart at the time of the new birth, but that is not what this statement means. Part of what righteousness means is to live right. To be uncompromisingly righteous is to live right all the time. This is whether anybody is looking at you or not. An example of someone who is not living this way may be somebody who does the right thing at Church on the weekend. He says the right things with a smiling face, sings beautiful songs to the Lord and loves on everybody, but is crooked in his business dealings through the week. Another example may be someone who says he "loves" his spouse but is secretly looking at pornography on the internet. The Lord sees right through this kind of hypocrisy and He will not bless this kind of behaviour.

The Lord is righteous in all His ways. He expects His children to learn of His ways and obey them without question or compromise. I have already mentioned a major portion of what it is to live right through the first two "goals" of this three goal series. The first was to be established in prayer. We were created to live in fellowship with the Creator Himself but how can you have intimacy with somebody that you never spend any time with? The second was to be established in His Word. How can we know what is required of us and live by that standard if we don't know what is already written down in the holy Scriptures? It's glaringly obvious these first two goals are vitally important in our Christian life... but so is the third - the local Church.

Established in the Church

I cannot express to you enough of the importance of being connected with the local body of believers. Now, I'm not just talking about any old place of your own choosing, but the place that the Lord will have you planted. You see, every born again Christian has a place for fellowship "already" chosen by God himself, where they are to plant themselves. The promise is given only to those who are planted. There are lots of folks looking around the place for the "perfect" Church or for the "perfect" Pastor. What they should be doing is looking for the place where God has destined them to be and get themselves planted there. There are also the people who are looking for the perfect location to live or for the perfect kind of job they would like to have. But little do they know they have it all back the front! God has already chosen the place for them to live and in that place is their local Church. This is where they are to be planted and this is where they are to serve and be faithful.

Notice the scriptures use the term planted. Think about it, if a certain kind of tree is planted is the right location, in the right soil, with the right amount of water and with the right kind of weather conditions, the tree will flourish all the days of its life. So too will the believer if he is planted in the right place and remains there. But, if the same tree was uprooted and transplanted from place to place, it would never get a chance to get its roots down into the subsoil to get the nutrients it needs to flourish. It may even die, and at best it would be stunted in its growth. This is the condition of much of the Church in our world. Instead of the people seeking the Lord for His will and place for their lives they are seeking their own wants and desires above His own will and desire, and this is much of their undoing.

It is not up to you and I to "decide" whether or not I am to go to this Church or that, or whether I like this Pastor more than that one, but to be faithful to the Lord and be planted in the place He has already chosen for you. Yes there will be challenges and situations that arise within any group of people that may be undesirable to you, but these are all opportunities for you to grow spiritually. I have often heard excuses for why certain folks got up and leave a Church, like, "they are all hypocrites in that Church", or "the Pastor hurt me", or "brother so and so, or sister so and so hurt me". Well, these are the things that happen in any "family" unit aren't they? It's how you and I respond to these situations that really matter. Any old fella can get offended, bitter and twisted and run off, but it takes character and the love of God to forgive, restore, forget and move on to victory! We are all called to walk in love and bear with the scruples of the weak. Each of us will get our fair share of opportunities to get offended in whatever Church we may attend - no matter how "perfect" it may be. But by using faith and patience, undergirded with the love of God we will handle and "weather" the situations we may face and will flourish in the soil in which we are planted.

God does not only require for us to be good attendees in the local Church, but to be vitally involved in the inner workings and outreaches of that Body. Some folks just attend Church on Sundays and feel they have performed their Christian duty for the week, but this is far from the truth nor is it acceptable to the Lord. Each member of the Body of Christ has their role within the local Church. If everybody would do their part in the Church and faithfully pray for the leaders and tithe of their incomes, there would be no lack in the Body of Christ, praise the Lord! The vast array of the different kinds of roles within the local Body is so enormous that it would be impossible to list them out here. From taking care of the physical structure of the dwelling you may be using for your fellowship meetings, feeding and clothing the poor, caring for the saints and their loved ones, and to the preaching of the Gospel to the nations of the world through various media outreach - you may find your part within the Body.

Our Lord Jesus Christ said, the greatest among you shall be servant of all. Be bold. Decide that you are going to serve within your Church. Get busy and faithfully do your part within your Church. Go and ask your Pastor what he may have you do within the Church, and go ahead and do it with enthusiasm as if you were doing it for the Lord Himself. Be faithful if you are given even the most seemingly insignificant task, because to the Lord no task that He has given is of little significance. What each of us do for the Lord and for the building of His kingdom is of eternal importance.

The local Church is the place that God has destined for each of us to have as a refuge away from the cares and troubles of this crazy world. It troubles me when I see people arrive to Church late and then leave early. The Church is to be the place where we can meet up with people of the same mind and faith. Here we can encourage one another, care for each other, hear the eternal Words of life from the heart of our Pastor, develop life long intimate friendships, grow up spiritually, and receive of the wonderful blessings of being a vital part of the greatest, largest and most powerful family on the face of the earth... the mighty Body of Christ!

God bless you richly!

David

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