What is the Future of the Church?
What is the future of the church? The WORD or Jesus is the future of the church; correct, but some would answer: The location is the future of the church. A beautiful building is the future of the church. Recreation is the future of the church. Meeting the needs of the people is the future of the church. How about the most important one? The children are the future of the church.
If the children do not grow up in the ways of the Lord and give strength to the church by continuing to live and teach the WORD, we will have little or no growth in the church in the future. The devil is working hard to destroy the family thus destroying the faith of our children.
Few parents take their job as seriously as they should and many think it will take care of itself. It won’t, the world is proof of that today. However God, through Solomon has told us how to live and how to raise our children.
I have heard, “They didn’t come with a set of rules.” Oh, but they did! God pro-vided us with that set of rules! The Bible gives us all we need to raise a child right. Eph 6:4 “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” This is a commandment from God, not a request.
If we do the Lord’s will it is easier for us to teach our children. Parents should say, “Follow me as I follow Christ.”
We know from the Bible that the WORD will last forever: Heb 13:8 “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” And we know Jesus Christ is the WORD: John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."
However if we don’t save the children the future of the church is bleak.
Where Do We Go From Here
“Where do we go from here?” Is asked when we get married. Then when a child is born, parents ask, “Where do we go from here?” The child grows up and the question is, “Where do we go from here?” The child gets married and a grandchild is born and again they wonder, “Where do we go from here?” Retirement is next and the same question, “Where do we go from here?”
The answers to these questions are the same: to God’s word to do His will. God gives us a set of rules for each stage of our lives. If we start off right the rest will come naturally.
Marriage was the first institution set up by God. Gen 2:24 “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” His instructions are plain as to how that marriage should be run, Eph 5:22-25 “wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it”. When a child is born Christian are to follow God’s will. Prov 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
In each of the questions asked above, “Where do we go from here?” we can find the answer in God’s word. There is never a mention in the word where we can retire from the work of the Lord. Each step we take should bring us closer to God. When we reach life’s end can we truly ask, “Where do we go from here?” And know the answer will be, “Heaven”?
Tomorrow May Be Too Late
Have we ever said, “Tomorrow I will do”?
I have many times and then have been sorrow because tomorrow was too late.
We had a dear friend who had asked us to come to the nursing home and we said we would next time we were in town. Next time came and we were running short on time so we said to our selves, “Next week, when we are back in town, we will be sure to go by. ”A few days later we got a phone call; our friend had died. Our intentions were good but tomorrow, for her, was too late.
Who do you need to go see or send a card? What is it you have been putting off until tomorrow? Who ever or whatever it is do it today for tomorrow may be too late.
Who do you know that you have been intending to tell the gospel to but for some reason you keep putting it off? 2 Cor 6:2 “behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
Remember, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Tomorrow may be too. Late.
Excited About the WORD!
Have you notice when someone becomes a child of God they want to go out right then and spread the WORD. Their excitement is high; it is running over. They want to go out and tell the world.
Excitement comes from the heart. Where is our excitement? What level are we on? Or have we lost that early excitement?
Every moment of every day we should be excited about the WORD. After all the WORD is the Lord speaking to us. When we go to church are we thinking about our problems and the cares of this world, or are we excited to go to the worship of the Lord? We should be so excited about the WORD that we start planning on Monday morning for the next time we have the privilege to come to the house of God. The early Christians were reminded of this in Heb. 10:22-25 “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Sunday is one thought for the day approaching, another is the judgment day. We should be excited about both of them. For in meeting with other Christians on Sunday or anytime the church meets, we renew our hearts for the Lord and the coming of the judgment day. Therefore church services should excite us. Not necessary who is speaking but the fact we are going to be with fellow Christians worshiping the Lord. Excitement should last all week in anticipation of the next time we meet.The more we study, the more we worship God, the more we are around fellow Christians, the more excited we will become. Excited enough to invite the world to have what we have. Have we lost our new born excitement or are we still excited enough to show the world just how excited we are about THE WORD?