Today is Sunday and you’re either preparing to go to church or have been. This message will be written as if you’re still going to church, but it applies to any church service.
“What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up (1 Corinthians 14:26).”
What will you bring to church today? In the context of 1 Corinthians 14 Paul shares about the power the church service should have on an unbeliever. If an unbeliever could see that this getting together of Christians manifests the power of God, they would desire that and worship God.
So, what can you bring? Have you prayed about the input the Lord wants you to have in the service? Our passage mentions that each one ‘has’... These words implicate that the Lord has already prepared something in individuals’ hearts to bring to the meeting. Some will have a song from the Lord, those with a teaching gift will bring a short teaching, the prophets in the church will share a revelation and the Lord has prepared some to bring a message from Him through the gift of tongues. If we give the Lord free reign, we’ll experience much power.
Note that all these entities are brought by different people as they have received from the Lord. The Lord is the head of the church and He has a plan with every meeting of His body. In the body are people with needs that should be met, people that need to be taught and encouraged and unbelievers that need to be born again. God wants to meet those needs and He wants to use you to do it. You’re probably telling me that your church wouldn’t allow you to say a word, let alone suggesting a song. This is true that the church has become so formalised that God has difficulty having a say in it. Preachers often preaches from sermon books that were written years ago, the liturgy of the church doesn’t allow for input from God through His gifted people, only certain people in the church are allowed to have a say in what the contents of a service is going to be, etc.
This is sad, for the head of the church, Jesus, is now unable to use certain members or His body to accomplish His purposes. His hands or feet are tied, He wears an eye patch, etc. These are put there by religious people. The church as an organism has become powerless in many ways, since they hinder the Head to accomplish what He’d like to... but it’s not all lost.
The individual members of the body still have their gifts and the Lord still gives you what you need to bring to the meeting of the saints. In some congregations you get the opportunity to bring what the Lord wants you to bring. You may not necessarily be invited, but the opportunity is left open during the worship to bring a word or a song. Just do it in obedience. For those who do not get the opportunity during the service, there is always the fellowship afterwards during which you can affect individuals’ lives or the house meetings. Obey the Lord and reach out to people.
Then we have other meetings and the media, such as the Internet, by which we can reach people with our gift. The point of this message is to hear from the Head what you as member needs to do and then do it.
Lord, help me to do your will.
If you benefited from this, why don’t you link it to your Facebook or Twitter to make it available to your friends? You can also use the e-mail link to pass it on. Please feel free to ask questions or discuss thoughts.
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