The Assembling
By Jerry Ousley
Hebrews 10:25
says: "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as
the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the
more as you see the Day approaching." We have used this verse of
Scripture for years to brow-beat people into attending church.
We've had this idea that we have to grow our congregations as
large as we can to make them successful. To accomplish this goal
we have used every tool and program possible to get people into
our buildings. I'm not necessarily saying this is wrong. That
depends on the spirit driving these congregations to make their
church grow. Every body of believers needs to seek God
independently about this and make sure that they are in God's
will. But I'm not sure that we have explored every aspect of
this verse.
The first and most important thing congregations need to do is
to win souls to Jesus Christ. That is our number one job. If we
aren't telling others how to come to Christ then everything else
we do is in vain. Of course Christians need to grow and learn
about God, His love for them and how He wants them to love Him
back. But the salvation experience must come first.
There are many excellent pastors who have a heart to see people
come to Jesus Christ and then grow in their personal
relationship with God. These men and women have given their
lives to the cause of pointing the souls of men in the right
direction that will bring them peace and assure them of eternal
life with God. They deserve to have people come into their
congregations because frankly these are the people who can help
other believers enter fellowship with God as He intended.
Another look at this verse of scripture reveals that Paul didn't
say "You've got to go to church to be a Christian." He said that
we shouldn't abandon coming together as believers. He continued
by saying that we should exhort, or teach and encourage each
other more and more as we see the Day approaching. Paul knew the
old adage that "there's safety in numbers." We are basically
social creations and we need others in our lives. As we gather
with other believers whether that is in a traditional church
setting, a dinner, or meeting together in a living room, as we
share our faith, our testimonies of what God has brought us
through and revealed to us, we help each other grow. It's not
where we come together but simply coming together. With today's
technology we can come together in a lot of different ways
including the internet. This touching of each other's lives is
the important thing.
What is the "Day" Paul mentioned? He was referring to the Day
when final things would begin to happen. All through scripture
we are warned that in the last days there would be signs of
Christ's return. I don't have time right now to go into all of
those things but let's summarize it by saying that all the
events Jesus talked about are happening right now. I know that
there have always been wars and rumors of wars. There have
always been disasters and hatred by men. But never before in
history have we seen all these signs coming together as quickly
as we are seeing them right now. War is taking place. Rumblings
of greater conflicts are on the horizon. The earth is rapidly
changing and we hear about global warming. We see stranger than
normal droughts in some areas while other areas that have been
normally dry are experiencing floods like never before. The
wickedness in the hearts of people is worse every day. If there
was ever a day believers need each other it is today. We need to
come together like never before because the Day Paul spoke of is
rapidly approaching.
Let's re-evaluate our assembling together. It's not a thing of
filling up buildings and getting big offerings. It's not about
constructing religious empires. It's not about whose
congregation is the largest. It is about believers growing
strong in the Lord and being ready and willing to serve Him so
we can get more to believe and come to Him before that Day
arrives. Please, make a point this week to assemble with
believers, worshipping God in spirit and in truth, exhorting
each other for all our sakes.
Jerry D. Ousley is the Author of three books, "Soul Challenge",
"Soul Journey" and "Ordeal." Listen to our daily broadcast
Spirit Bread. Find out more by visiting www.spiritbread.com
or email us at jousley@spiritbread.com
