HOME Wednesday, February 10, 2010 Teaching
Dear Grace,
We have to cancel Bible Study tonight because of the snow. I have written out the Bible Study lesson so you can still receive teaching for today. Remember, we will have our first Friday Night Service this Friday, February 12th from 7:30 to 9:00 pm. Youth, grades 4 and up will have a half hour of biblical instruction but the rest of the evening will be an opportunity for them to have supervised fun with their friends at the DYC. There will also be special classes during the Friday Night Service for children grades 3 and below at the Church.
I have spent quite a bit of time praying while we have been snowed in. One of my greatest questions was what is Grace Church’s greatest need in this season? The Lord responded with one word, “encouragement.” Hebrews 10:25 immediately came to mind but let’s start with verse twenty four. 24And let us consider how we
may spur one another toward love and good deeds.
may spur one another toward love and good deeds.
- This term translated “spur,” paroxusmon, is very strong. It literally means to irritate, exasperate, and contend. The scripture is saying that basically we are to provoke each other toward greater love (less selfishness) and good deeds (sacrificing for the greater good) to the point of fever.
- In other words, it is my job to sometimes get on your nerves until you likewise boil with fervor for God’s people, house and mission to reach those who do not know Christ.
- In my experience, personal growth does not really begin until I am pushed out of my comfort zone. I have also learned that if I am going to coach people to grow, I must not be afraid to risk getting on peoples nerves.
- A negative response to being “spurred” out of our comfort zone is what gets us in trouble and is answered in verse twenty five.
- When challenged, immature people tend to get offended and withdraw their fellowship.
- They also become a magnet for like minded individuals and create either a clique or a new fellowship of wounded believers.
- Lastly, they may choose to attend another fellowship were their favorite doctrines are taught.
- Notice that the inspired writer did not lower the bar or change the vision of the church because some people stopped attending. Instead he told them to “spur”/spar in love with those who dropped out and encourage them to love God’s people more and do more for the cause of Christ. (…spur one another toward love and good deeds)
25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing …
- He was not talking about people who occasionally could not make it to church or had extenuating circumstances, he is confronting habits.
- A habit (ethos) - is when we get so accustomed to doing something that we begin to do it almost involuntarily. It is when actions grow an unconscious root and you no longer have to consciously think about it, to do it.
- We can get to the place that our subconscious is so infected by autonomy, pride and insubordination that we unconsciously sabotage God’s channel of blessing to our own detriment, “God sets the lonely in families...” (Psalm 68:6)
- All fruit has a root. If you do not pull up most weeds by the root, they only grow back.
...but let us encourage [parakalountes] one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
- I am a strong believer in learning how to encourage ourselves privately in the Lord, but some encouragement cannot be found apart from community.
- The cognates in the word encourage, para means to comfort and come alongside, and Kaleo means to call, name or invite. All of us need people in our lives who come to our side with comfort; people who know our names (the good names and bad ones) and accept us as we are but continue to prod us toward who God has called us to be.
- This scripture also reveals a problem. If you are not part of a local body, you will probably not receive the encouragement necessary to prepare you for the return of the Lord.
Church is like anything else, you get out what you put in.
- Proverbs 18:24 KJV says, “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly...”
- To the extent you get involved is the extent you get blessed by fellowship.
- As a pastor I can bless people to an extent. About 800 people regularly attend Grace. It is not humanly possible for me to go out to dinner with everyone, visit everyone in the hospital, attend all of the parties, and make all the phone calls. If I did, I could not attend to my family, other pressing matters of ministry and in just a few months, I would be completely burned out. But Grace is much bigger than me. After God, His presence and anointing, the true treasure of Grace Church is found in its wonderful people.
- If you have not found friends, the first question you need to ask yourself is not whether others have been friendly but have you been friendly.
- Have you spent time talking with anyone else in your department? Have you invited another family out with yours for lunch after service? Have you gone to any of the smaller ministry gatherings? Etc… Remember, a person who has friends must be friendly.
- My prayer is that all of us find encouragement at Grace Church. Friends come in various forms, different levels and in surprising sources, but it is my conviction that there is depth of spiritual blessing that we will never receive apart from developing personal relationships with other believers.
Someone at Grace needs to know you. You have experienced things that they are going through right now. This Sunday, stick around just a little longer, talk to just one person you would not normally talk to and watch God encourage you in ways you would not have imagined.
-Bishop