January 17th 2021
Do You Believe There Are Benefits Of Regular Attendance At A Church Of Your Choice?
James 1:27 (NIV)
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Followers of Jesus Christ are expected to try to help those who cannot help themselves. However, the most important thing they are expected to do is “to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” In the USA we are seeing many groups being formed that believe they know what is best for this country. They believe they are the only people who know what is best for themselves to flourish in this country. Such groups do not care about anyone else’s rights they believe they know best. Most of such groups seem to hate anyone who disagrees with their ideas of what needs to be done to get their way accomplished in the USA. Such ideology is a form of religion that is void of any ties to the true God of the Bible. Jesus taught His followers to love everyone and to function as the servant of everyone, considering everyone to be better than themselves.
This country was founded on the principles established in the Christian belief system, and the rules established by the founding fathers based the rule of law to be based on this belief system. None of groups trying to force their belief system on this country follow such a rule of law. These groups do not believe that this country was founded on such ideas, and they teach our youth that this country was established not on love but instead on hatred. So, what should followers of Jesus Christ do in this environment today? We must believe that God is in control of this earth and that He will somehow intervene to allow truth to prevail. As believers we must pray for such holy intervention.
Jesus once told a parable about an unjust judge who did not love God or care about mankind, but he would give in if we are persistent in praying! And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:6-8). To read the rest of this parable, see Luke 18: 1-5. Jesus says that if the followers pray for justice, “will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? So, please let us get serious to taking time daily to pray for God’s intervention in our unbelieving world today.
The end of this parable Jesus asks a question for us, His followers to answer about how much faith there is in this world, now and how much will there be when Jesus comes back to this earth, likely some time soon. The question is “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" If you still have faith that Jesus Christ is who He says He is, please pray for our country! The answer to your prayer may cause a slight increase in faith remaining in this still the greatest country on this earth today!
Sorry about this rant about the dire situations we see in our world today, it just could not be ignored, as I still hold great hope for this country if we the faithful resort to prayer as the answer to the evils that threaten our country today. I believe the followers of Jesus Christ have become the remnant that Jesus holds together by faith alone. Throughout history God maintained a remnant of those who continued to believe in Him. This belief is always based on faith, which allows believers to still have hope through the knowledge of the truth
Paul wrote about the Gentiles becoming such a remnant to the church at Rome and for us today. It is just as Isaiah said previously: "Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah." What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling-stone". As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." (Romans 9:29-33). The Israelites lost their right to salvation because they did not recognize Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior. The Gentiles, however, did come to believe through faith that Jesus Christ is the One and only Savior of this world, and thus they (we) became the body of Christ on this earth.
Now in this country we are becoming the remnant, as the numbers of believers is reducing as very few of the younger generations choose to believe in Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior. The numbers of young people attending a church of their choice is dwindling in this country, and for the most part around this world. Attending a church will not save your immortal soul, but if your soul has been retained as the elect by God, you will desire to be with other believers every time your church of choice is open. I believe this to be true! What do you believe are the benefits of regular attendance at a church of your choice?
If you believe there are benefits to attending a church of your choice, can you be brave enough to invite someone you know, who does not attend a church this year? This seems like a good New Year’s resolution and it could help to give hope through faith to the people you invite to attend a church on a regular basis. Many years ago, some good friends invited my family to come with them to their church of choice. And we have never stopped attending on a regular basis. See, it can work. My life has been greatly improved through regular attendance at this body of Christ! What a wonderful gift they gave us by being brave enough to ask us to join them to worship God on a regular basis. What a great habit to have, that of regularly worshiping God amidst other believers every week. If because of COVID you chose to not attend a church of your choice this coming Sunday, why not tune in to a worship service on the Internet.
Be sure to allow time in your schedule to pray for our country, as there is a real possibility that there will be more internal terrorists who plan to disrupt the turnover of power from President Trump to President Elect Joe Biden.
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
James 1:27 (NIV)
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Followers of Jesus Christ are expected to try to help those who cannot help themselves. However, the most important thing they are expected to do is “to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” In the USA we are seeing many groups being formed that believe they know what is best for this country. They believe they are the only people who know what is best for themselves to flourish in this country. Such groups do not care about anyone else’s rights they believe they know best. Most of such groups seem to hate anyone who disagrees with their ideas of what needs to be done to get their way accomplished in the USA. Such ideology is a form of religion that is void of any ties to the true God of the Bible. Jesus taught His followers to love everyone and to function as the servant of everyone, considering everyone to be better than themselves.
This country was founded on the principles established in the Christian belief system, and the rules established by the founding fathers based the rule of law to be based on this belief system. None of groups trying to force their belief system on this country follow such a rule of law. These groups do not believe that this country was founded on such ideas, and they teach our youth that this country was established not on love but instead on hatred. So, what should followers of Jesus Christ do in this environment today? We must believe that God is in control of this earth and that He will somehow intervene to allow truth to prevail. As believers we must pray for such holy intervention.
Jesus once told a parable about an unjust judge who did not love God or care about mankind, but he would give in if we are persistent in praying! And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:6-8). To read the rest of this parable, see Luke 18: 1-5. Jesus says that if the followers pray for justice, “will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? So, please let us get serious to taking time daily to pray for God’s intervention in our unbelieving world today.
The end of this parable Jesus asks a question for us, His followers to answer about how much faith there is in this world, now and how much will there be when Jesus comes back to this earth, likely some time soon. The question is “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" If you still have faith that Jesus Christ is who He says He is, please pray for our country! The answer to your prayer may cause a slight increase in faith remaining in this still the greatest country on this earth today!
Sorry about this rant about the dire situations we see in our world today, it just could not be ignored, as I still hold great hope for this country if we the faithful resort to prayer as the answer to the evils that threaten our country today. I believe the followers of Jesus Christ have become the remnant that Jesus holds together by faith alone. Throughout history God maintained a remnant of those who continued to believe in Him. This belief is always based on faith, which allows believers to still have hope through the knowledge of the truth
Paul wrote about the Gentiles becoming such a remnant to the church at Rome and for us today. It is just as Isaiah said previously: "Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah." What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling-stone". As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." (Romans 9:29-33). The Israelites lost their right to salvation because they did not recognize Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior. The Gentiles, however, did come to believe through faith that Jesus Christ is the One and only Savior of this world, and thus they (we) became the body of Christ on this earth.
Now in this country we are becoming the remnant, as the numbers of believers is reducing as very few of the younger generations choose to believe in Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior. The numbers of young people attending a church of their choice is dwindling in this country, and for the most part around this world. Attending a church will not save your immortal soul, but if your soul has been retained as the elect by God, you will desire to be with other believers every time your church of choice is open. I believe this to be true! What do you believe are the benefits of regular attendance at a church of your choice?
If you believe there are benefits to attending a church of your choice, can you be brave enough to invite someone you know, who does not attend a church this year? This seems like a good New Year’s resolution and it could help to give hope through faith to the people you invite to attend a church on a regular basis. Many years ago, some good friends invited my family to come with them to their church of choice. And we have never stopped attending on a regular basis. See, it can work. My life has been greatly improved through regular attendance at this body of Christ! What a wonderful gift they gave us by being brave enough to ask us to join them to worship God on a regular basis. What a great habit to have, that of regularly worshiping God amidst other believers every week. If because of COVID you chose to not attend a church of your choice this coming Sunday, why not tune in to a worship service on the Internet.
Be sure to allow time in your schedule to pray for our country, as there is a real possibility that there will be more internal terrorists who plan to disrupt the turnover of power from President Trump to President Elect Joe Biden.
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
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