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Gleanings From The Word

Category: Scripture Index

  • Serve Others: Transforming Worship into Action

    Serve Others: Transforming Worship into Action

    A pair of well worn wrk gloves on a bible illustrating the call to serve

    A comment I have often heard on a Sunday morning goes something like, ‘I didn’t feel like worship today,’ or ‘The sermon didn’t speak to me today.’ How about, ‘We need this program. SOMEBODY should do it.’ Maybe it’s ‘We did it differently in my day.’ We’ve all heard those sentiments, or if we are honest with ourselves, we’ve said those words ourselves. Rarely do we hear, ‘How can I serve today?’”

    Something we all need reminding of, me included, is that worship isn’t about us. It involves us, but we are there to worship the Lord, not be the focal point of the service.

    Secondly, we need to remember that God’s Word is proclaimed in its power. While some messages may hit closer to home than others, and certainly some sermons are better crafted and delivered than others, we need open hearts to hear the truth.

    The regular service at your local assembly isn’t about you (or me). It’s about the body coming together. It’s where we learn, serve and practice generosity and hospitality. 

    It’s a place where we can practice giving and receiving grace and forgiveness.  It’s where we can safely practice getting along with others who may not be just like us.

    It’s where we can share and bear one another’s burdens. It’s a holy place, a gift from God above.

    The Sunday service isn’t about meeting your perceived needs, nor is it necessarily designed to fit your personal preferences. There might be music you don’t like, or an order of service that isn’t your favorite. 

    Perhaps, from your perspective, there is too much/too little emphasis on something. Maybe the preacher is too academic or not academic enough. Maybe the coffee brand served before or after the service isn’t your favorite.

    We can always find something to complain about at the church. It’s full of people, and people are broken sinners, saved by grace. We are works in progress, justified, being sanctified but not yet glorified.

    The church is the Bride of Christ. It’s the way He has chosen to build His kingdom. As he does with us, He loves the bride with all her warts, flaws and stumbles. We need to love her too.

    The earthly church is never going to be perfect. It isn’t designed to meet all our personal preferences. It’s designed to grow us in Christlikeness.

    The writer of Hebrews exhorts us…

    Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Hebrews 10:23-25

    The local assembly will have its problems, but that’s our opportunity to BE THE CHURCH to step in and serve, pray and give. It’s God’s wonderful gift to us.

    What’s God calling you to do at the local level? It’s certainly not to just be a spectator.  The body needs you, and you need the body.

    It’s time to open your heart and mind and step up.

    Be blessed 

    Kevin 

    Check this out

    Every Member Is Necessary — 1 Corinthians 12

    SUMMARY

    The local church exists not to satisfy personal preferences or perceived needs, but to gather believers together to worship God, grow in Christlikeness, and serve one another. As members of Christ’s Bride, we are called to step in, serve, and love the church with all her imperfections, rather than sitting on the sidelines as spectators.

    KEY POINTS

    Worship is directed toward God, not designed around the worshiper’s comfort or preferences.

    The local assembly is where believers learn, serve, practice grace, bear one another’s burdens, and grow together in faith.

    The church needs your active participation — Hebrews 10:23-25 calls us to encourage one another and keep gathering together, especially as the day draws near.

    You might also enjoy

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    Issue 942 – Upside Down – December 23, 2022

  • Small Steps, Big Kingdom: What Beavers Teach Us About How God Grows His Church

    Aerial view of world'slongest beaver damn - small steps produce big results

    The beaver is famed for being an industrious builder. Stick by stick, twig by twig, packing with mud as they go, they close off waterways. It’s all accomplished in small steps.

    According to Parks Canada “The world’s largest beaver dam is visible from space in satellite images. It is almost 800 meters long from end-to-end, and holds back run-off water from the Birch Mountains in the southernmost end of Wood Buffalo National Park.”

    The front of the actual dam runs approximately 775 meters in length. The entire perimeter of the dam area is close to 2000 meters. The surface area is approximately 70,000 square meters. The pond formed by the dam is probably one meter deep, which means it would contain about 70,000 cubic meters of water.”

    There is one major lodge on the site, which means 4-8 beavers. This likely took 40 years and multiple generations to build. That’s an incalculable number of small steps.

    It reminds me of the way Jesus built his church. The kingdom grows in small steps. It’s spread person to person, one soul at a time. Why the Lord chose to do it that way is a mystery to me. Surely there must have been a more efficient option.

    Yet somehow it makes sense. 

    God’s kingdom often begins in ways that appear small, weak, or unnoticed, but through His power it grows steadily and accomplishes His purposes.

    He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is the smallest of all seeds, but when it is fully grown, it is the largest of the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” Matthew 13:31-32

    Ordinary people, like you and me, spread the gospel. We grow the kingdom step by small step. 

    Before the day of Pentecost, Jesus’ ministry had produced about 120 converts. There was a miraculous supernatural harvest on that day, but typically it’s spread one-to-one.

    From humble beginnings, now over 2 billion people claim to be followers of Christ. We know that figure includes many who are not true believers, but person by person and generation to generation, the small steps have paid off.

    As a believer, you are part of something much larger than you can imagine. Keep taking those small steps of faith and obedience. Incremental change over time yields huge transformations.

    Keep sowing and growing. The harvest is plentiful. Lets do our part.

    Hallelu Yah (Praise God) 

    Be blessed 

    Kevin 

    SUMMARY:

    Just as beavers build the world’s largest dam one twig at a time over generations, God’s kingdom grows through small, faithful steps — person by person, soul by soul — from 120 disciples to over 2 billion followers of Christ.

     

    KEY POINTS

    The world’s largest beaver dam stretches nearly 800 meters and took an estimated 40 years and multiple generations to complete, built entirely through countless small, incremental actions.

    Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed — the smallest of seeds that grows into the largest garden plant — reflecting how God’s purposes advance through what appears weak or unnoticed.

    From 120 converts before Pentecost to more than 2 billion today, the gospel has spread one person at a time, reminding believers that their small steps of faith and obedience are part of something far greater than they can see. 

    You might also enjoy “Busy beaver, another helper” and “God is closer than you think.”