This is a repost from my Facebook site. I posted it in March of 2010. But, I'm still getting people asking me why I choose to live an abundant life? Why do I go to church so much? I like to go whenever the 'doors are open'. I am called to be a follower of Christ. I am called to seek after God and to seek the Way onto eternal life. So, in John 10:10, Christ tells us that He came to the world so that I may have life, and have it more abundantly.
Why then do I attend church at least 2x a week, have choir practice during the week, and want to have more bible studies with other believers? It is because I want to live the abundant life in Christ.
Here is the original piece:
Recently I posted a question, is there such a thing as too much church? I like to attend church and church gatherings and bible studies and the like. I like being with the Body of Christ .. The church. My family, naturally, now only includes my half-sister and half-brother, and their kids. My spouse has two sisters both who have their families and live in other states other than Nevada.
He and I have been married for 20 years, and the one thing that has drawn us together as a couple more than anything else is our devotion to our Savior, Jesus Christ and the study of God ... or Theology ... Theology is a Greek word meaning "Study of God".
We believe in the Bible as the
innerrant and literal Word of God ... meaning that whatever is written in the Bible, when it is in the original language and translated as such, is the actual Words of God written by human agents, under the direction of the Holy Spirit and since we believe it is literal, means we believe everything happened the way it says it happened.
In the Bible we find Truth.
We believe in
Dispensations ... This means that in the Bible there are three groups of people that it was written to, the Jews, the Gentiles, and the Church. There were different ages of time that God worked through ..
- Innocence - from creation to the fall
- Conscience: from the fall to the flood
- Noah: from the flood to the call of Abraham
- Abraham: from the call of Abraham to the giving of the Law at Sinai to Moses
- Israel: Under the Law, Under the Priesthood, Under the Kings (from Moses to Nebuchadnezzar)
- Gentiles: from the captivities until the second advent
- Present/Spirit/Christian/Gentile/Church: from Pentecost to the Millennium.
- Millennial Kingdom (the thousand-year reign of Christ)
- Eternal State
Currently we are in the Present - The Church Age - The Age of Grace ... from Pentecost to the Millenium. We are waiting for the return of our Eternal King, Jesus to rapture us into Heaven.
While we are waiting for Christ's return, we want to get to know Jesus more. That's why we read the Bible, as they have the words of Truth for us to learn from.
John 1:1-5, 10-13 (NLT)
"In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God."
Yesterday, after church, my spouse and I were talking. How does someone who believes in Jesus feels as though if they attend a local church body only once a week, feels they have 'done their duty' to come and learn about God? Why do the people in the church feel that a duty must be done to attend one service (or two for a mid-week service).
He suggested it is like you and your mate. Would you only want to visit with your mate for one day out of the week? For only one hour (two if you were devout)? No, of course not! You would want to spend as much time as humanly possible to be with them. Any time you were apart you would constantly think of the other person. You wait for them to call you or text you or speak to you. You are fearful if you don't hear from them for awhile. You are concerned about their welfare.
The same goes with our Savior. Jesus wants to speak with us on a daily basis. Hour by hour if need be. When we go to church do we actually go to meet with God or to meet with our Church family? I think it should be both. Our church family are the ones who we can be enouraged by and to encourage others in the walk of the faith. We come to listen to a message that will give us Words to live by and to live our lives as a witness and testimony to others. We come and listen to our Pastor who has studied the Bible (like we should be doing ... myself included) who has some insight into that passage that stirs us to read the Bible more and get to know our Savior more.
Studying ... Do we go home after Church services and re-study the passages covered? Do we take notes during the message? Do we look them up in our Bible? Do we even have a Bible in our home? How are we to know God's Word and what it says if we only take our Pastor's word for it? In Acts it speaks of a people called the Bereans, who would take note of what the apostles taught and then go look it up to verify what they were taught was correct. They were called "Noble-minded." Acts 17:11. Does your church offer online messages to listen to the ones you might have missed, or even relisten to in case you didn't hear it correctly the first time? If not, check with your church to see if they have recordings you can avail yourself to. This is a great resource in spending more time with God. Study.
We (myself included) need to spend more time with God.
Prayer is our two-way communication with our Creator, with Yahweh, with Jehovah, the God who Created humanity. God provided Jesus to reconcile us, to Him. Scripture is correct, God is neither male nor female, but God is Creator or our Heavenly Care-Taker, Parent, Father. God cares for us. If God did not care, we would be left to our own devices and would have perished long ago.
Prayer and our communication with God draws us closer in our relationships to each other. To our mate; to our friends; and hopefully to our natural families. Our reading of the Bible helps us learn to see what we need to change in ourselves and to be able to make those changes. We have a change of mind and turn to God.
A long time ago I attended a church retreat where we were taught three things we could do to strengthen our walk with God and with others.
P.S.A. -- Prayer, Study and Action..
Prayer and Study, I have covered, but what is action? Actions speak louder than words. Through our actions, people see Christ living in us. We are not delivered from the dominion of darkness into the dominion of eternal glory by our actions, but through belief in Jesus Christ. However, our actions help us lead the way for others to the Light of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Our actions, to the ones that Jesus reached out for in His earthly ministry -- women, the outcasts, the lepers, the children, the orphans, the widows, the poor, the tax collectors, the sinners, the homeless, the weak, the troubled, the pyschologically disturbed, the ones that no one wanted to be around, Jesus went to them. He had the answer for their problems. He WAS and IS the answer.
Today, in 2010, many catastrophes have happened already in the world. Devastating earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, blizzards, flooding, mudslides, and natural disasters abound. There are rumors and not so many rumors of wars.
We read about Jesus teaching his disciples in
Matthew 24:3-14 (NLT)
Later, Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives. His disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will all this happen? What sign will signal your return and the end of the world?” Jesus told them, “Don’t let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come. “Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers.And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations] will hear it; and then the end will come."
We are not to panic. We are not to worry. We need to recognize the signs of the times. Jesus taught his Jewish Disciples that they would be hated because they were followers of Jesus. Because Jesus stood for those who were the broken hearted and the troubled. Jesus cared for those less fortunate or less educated or less than the world at the time wanted to accept. We need to count on God for our strength, our hope, our confident assurance of the things to come.
Sin is still everywhere ... Evil is still reigning in the earth. Too much of a good thing? I'd rather be with my Church family .. the ones who are clinging to Jesus ... Jesus is the author and perfector of my faith. Jesus has promised me eternal life because I beleive in Him. (John 3:16) ... I and who so ever believes will not perish, but have eternal life. WHO SO EVER believes.
Belief. Prayer. Study. Action. Let's move forward as much as humanly possible to proclaim the Good News of Christ to all the world. I am wanting to be with Jesus Christ seven days a week if humanly possible. I want to know my Savior as intimately (or more so) than my mate. I know that I have been given a gift of eternal life. I have been given a gift of abundant life. I have been given a gift of joy, of peace and of hope in the future. If nothing else, I am free to be a child of God living a life set free from my past and looking forward to the future! I have been set free from worry and anxiety in the world around me. I am a transformed life. It's not too much of a good thing ... its just about right.
God bless you and go for too much of the Good Things in Life!
In Christ's Service,
Tracey
