Come Up Here And See

There are many scriptures on every different issue in the Word of God that we do not always honour or obey that sometimes I am baffled at why we do not obey But at the same time the Holy Spirit gently asks and reminds me, “Lisa do you always obey My Word, do you always honour My Word and allow Me to cleanse your heart and mind?” Then I have to say, “well no Lord I do not, and I am truly sorry, please forgive me?” Gratefully the moment that I ask forgiveness, forgiveness is granted and what is even better is that even before I ask forgiveness His amazing Love is always there but once you have been forgiven the manifest presence of the Lord is in my life because I have stepped into the realm of a reverential awe and respect for the Holy God which is not possible to have in your life if you are being disobedient.

The one scripture that is a concern to me is the scripture of not neglecting, not abandoning our meeting together as the church, the Bride of Christ.

Hebrews 10: 24-25 NET ²⁴ And let us take thought of how to spur one another on to love and good works, ²⁵ not abandoning our own meetings, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and even more so because you see the day drawing near.

Abandon definition, to leave completely and finally; forsake utterly; desert: to abandon one’s farm; to abandon a child; to abandon a sinking ship.

Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Neglect definition verb fail to care for properly and amazingly the sentence they used is “the old churchyard has been sadly neglected” – Oxford.

Neglect definition noun the state or fact of being uncared for – Oxford.

When I read the definitions of neglecting, abandoning such as utterly forsake or in neglect, the old churchyard has been sadly neglected we all know of churches where the attendance has dropped to almost nothing, they are relying on making pies and different food sales for income to even pay the bills. What is worse is that is not only what happens to the church itself, but what happens to each individual when they are no longer meeting together as the church. They cannot be cared for and they themselves will be abandoned like a sinking ship and only because they have chosen that path.

Even before 2020 there had been a great falling away from being a follower and the reasons are: being offended, lack of holy fear for the Lord God Almighty and differences in opinions on many subjects such as worship styles, dress styles, paint colours, where do the pastors sit, lady teachers and the list goes on and on.

But when the pandemic of 2020 hit and governments around the world said we were to be in isolation. In the western hemisphere only businesses who were essential could be open and the governments took it upon themselves to say that church going was not essential. At that time churches if they had not been using the media to the fullest opportunity had to learn overnight and bring their church up to date with media.

For many of us who always went to church but also was able to grow and learn from other churches from their media exposure were very grateful that more coverage was coming from the churches so that we could stay fed on the Word of God.

For myself I was able to attend a prophetic conference in 2021 in a three-hour different time zone and able to meet people from around the world in their zoom rooms and that prophetic conference changed my life. The saying of the boomers became zoomers was true. All of us had to catch up to how work outside of the normal box for normal church going.

However, at the same time there was a fall back to this kind of church going. We began to believe that we did not need to go to church. We could hibernate through the winter and not go to church. Why would we need to go physically when the service was airing on our big screens in our homes? Why did I need to get up and shower, dress up a little to go to church, put on makeup, and make myself available to the Lord to go to church and serve. Why did I need to because as a tither, I could still tithe through e-transfer, I could still pray online with the church, I could worship at home, I could listen to the pastor and take notes, why did I need to go?

We have forgotten what the scripture in Hebrews 10 says. We were not to be forsaking coming to church, not neglecting to meet, not abandoning coming together. As I just pause at this and think, wow, the Hebrews writer wrote this letter in 64-84 AD, over two thousand years ago and he felt the emergency then to tell us not neglect our meeting together, how much more important is it today.

Why do we have to meet? Well, the Lord tells us in Hebrews 10: 24 and the reason is that we need to be encouraging one another, spurring them on to love and good works,

Our job as Christ followers is to be encouragers because that is who the Holy Spirit is, and we are to be like God.

Encourage definition – give support, confidence, or hope to (someone) – Oxford.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Do you know how difficult it is to encourage one another or build them up when I do not always see them. If I do have them on social media such as Facebook, Instagram etc., the full truth of how they are doing, are never revealed, it is usually a fake face that is put forth on social media.

The other Christ followers that I see in my church and who you see at your church we do not see every day of the week except the family that you drive to church with. When I go to church I must realize and understand that we will never all agree on all things. The beliefs that are necessary to agree on the God is a triune being, God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the only way to the Father, He is the truth, He resurrected from the dead for us, He took all my sins on the cross, once I have been saved and surrendered to Him as my Lord and Saviour, I am no longer a sinner but a saint. These are the basic truths that we must agree on.

When we do surrender to meet and come together at church is that in this process one of the most beautiful things happen and that Jesus is washing, making His Church, the Bride of Christ ready for His return. Oh, that is so exciting. But at the same time there is a process in being made holy, being sanctified.

Ephesians 5:25-27 ESV Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

You know without spot or wrinkle, being holy and without blemish sounds wonderful and it is but this is what will happen, you will sharpen one another. This means that rough spots will be taken off, just like the potter and the clay. As we come together to encourage one another, be taught the Word of God, serve one another, probably be offended and therefore learning how to forgive one another then we are discipling our body, keeping it under control so that we finish our race well and we will run into the arms of Jesus, without spot or wrinkle, holy and without blemish. This brings tears to my eyes because that is what I want, knowing that He will be able to say well done, I love you and I am so proud of you because you allowed yourself to be taught.

Proverbs 27:17 ESV Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

1 Corinthians 9:27 ESV But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Did you realize that for many Christians there is a stealthy attack from the enemy to not go to church on a Sunday morning? For some of us, we cannot hear the alarms on Sunday morning, but we can on any other day and that is me. Many of us have busy lives and by Sunday we are exhausted but I speak to you today that as you sacrifice and arouse from that sleep and prepare to go to church, you will be encouraged by others and you will be able to encourage others and you will be able to serve others in the calling that the Lord has placed on your life. You will find yourself being accountable to the calling on your life and you will be blessed here and blessed when you stand in the presence of the Lord God Almighty. As you rise and do not neglect coming together and meeting together, healing both spiritually and physically will come to you.

Stealth – a movement that is quiet and careful in order not to be seen or heard. Thieves operate with terrifying stealth so that they easily steal from the pockets of unsuspecting travelers. Oxford dictionary

Holy Spirit I pray that you would help us, guide us with a self-discipline that we would rise early Sunday mornings to go to church to encourage others and be faithful in attending and not only attending but also serving one another. That we would not be afraid to attend and serve. I also believe healing would come for all offenses that have taken place and we would take those offenses to You, Holy Spirit and trust You for a healing. I thank you that You are convicting us and letting us see how You see the importance of gathering, encouraging one another and how that is actually protecting us from the enemy’s stealthy attacks. Lord, I pray that You would deliver us from the enemy, and we are grateful for the answers to our prayers, In Jesus Name, Amen.