KHANDIE'S KORNER - January 5, 2003 | |
Timely Insights into God's Word from Khandielese Reyes | |
This Weeks Message- (scripture taken from King James Version) "And The Church Grew" Therefore let all the house of Israel know
assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and
Christ. Now when they heard this, they were
pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles, Men and
brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said
unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children,
and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many
other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward
generation. Then they that gladly received
his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand
souls. And they continued steadfastly in the
Apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders
and signs were done by the Apostles. And all
that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and
goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread
from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising
God, and having favour with all the people. And
the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. (Acts 2:36-47) The earlier church flourished greatly,
grew rapidly, as men and women hearts opened wide to receive the truth of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Daily, new believers were added. What would make these earlier seekers
so eager and desirous to hear the truth that they would ask the Apostles: what must I do to be saved, and yet today there are
not many seekers pounding on the doors of the church to hear about the one who laid down
his life that we may live? What did the
Apostles have that we apparently are missing today?
We are preaching the same Jesus, and yet their speech caught the attention
of the hearer. What has our speech been like? Lets examine the earlier church, and then
lets examine ourselves and perhaps we may discover the areas where we lack, and in
the process learn a great lesson on how the earlier church operated and how we should be
following their example. First lets clarify the
Church. The church was and shall
always be The Body of Believers. Therefore,
our examination is not with the building, but with parts and members of the
Body of Christ, being The Church of which the Lord added to daily such as should be saved. When studying the Acts of the
Apostles, a few things immediately caught my attention regarding their service to
the Lord and how through all things they sought to glorify Him. The first being their obvious desire for the lost
sheep to hear the truth and receive the gift of Eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. They sought not the praise of men, or
to be seen of men, but the expectation in their preaching was the hope that souls would be
won to Christ. They preached the word of God
with boldness, lacking nothing in their speech, nor compromising one word. They didnt say what the people wanted to hear, but spoke what the people needed to hear. What was first and foremost on their agenda was
that through their preaching, hearts of men and women alike would surrender to the Lord
and receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Thus,
they went about preaching and teaching THE WAY to salvation and eternal life was through
Jesus Christ our Lord. They spoke with
passion and truth about our Lord Jesus and the crowd was moved to hear their speech and
receive their words and because of this, many new believers were added daily. The second
thing that caught my attention was their love for one another that brought to my mind the
Lords words which the Apostles through their obedience fulfilled: By this they will know you are my disciples, if
you have love one for another. They not only SPOKE the words of LOVE, but
DEMONSTRATED their love one for another. They had all things in common and none lacked,
for with cheerfulness of heart these believers sold
their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. Surely
their open display of genuinely caring for one another, their willingness to give and
share with one another, their true brotherly love caught the attention of those who also
heard the word. So not only did seekers have
opportunity to hear the word, but also to see the word manifested
in the lives of these earlier believers. Their
genuine love for one another made it desirable for those who were looking from the
outside, to want to come in and join this awesome fellowship of love. Finally, the
other thing that immediately caught my attention was the honest and genuine JOY of the
LORD they had! They served the Lord with
gladness and joy of heart. Through their
struggles they had joy; through their hardship they had joy; through the ministering of
the gospel they had joy; they made JOY a public display to the people. And the people were witness to having seen there
was actual JOY in serving the Lord. Not
hardship, not with difficulty, but with JOY! This
gave visible meaning to the scriptures: The JOY of the Lord is my strength for
no matter what these believers were faced with, they remained joyful in the Lord. Now, if we (The Church) examine ourselves today, can we honestly say we are following the example of the earlier believers? Are we ministering the gospel to be seen of men, or do we as the Apostles did, truly desire to see hearts changed and lives surrendered to Jesus. Peter and the others went where the lost was to share the Gospel and did not wait for the lost to come searching for them, are we doing the same? The harvest is truly plentiful but the laborers are few! Is our outward display towards one another that of LOVE? When unbelievers look at the church today, do they see a body of believers who TRULY love one another and are demonstrating this love for one another, or do they see believers who are in strife and division, disputing and arguing, and speaking evil of one another? Is our behavior towards one another turning people away from the church and ultimately away from Christ? And, are we demonstrating to the world how joyful it is to serve the Lord, or have we laid heavy burdens of man made rules and regulations upon one another that we ourselves are unable to keep? When an unbeliever looks upon the church do they see members full of JOY or members struggling to be perfect and despising themselves because they may fall short? The Earlier Church grew as the Lord added to them daily. Let us this day EXAMINE OURSELVES and if we are not even close to operating in the manner of the earlier church, we must NOW REPENT! For judgement comes quickly, and it will begin with The Church! I love you all so very much. Have a blessed week in the Lord and remember: Whatever we do, do ALL for the GLORY of GOD, who ALONE is worthy of the GLORY and the PRAISE! May the peace of the Lord be with you today and always . KhandieleseDaughter & Servant of the Lord God |
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