For believers, there is no substitute for attending church. Besides something that pleases God, it is necessary for a believer’s spiritual well-being. For shut-ins or invalids who aren’t able to go to church, the ministries on radio or TV might be the only kind of fellowship or spiritual nourishment that they get. God certainly understands the circumstances of these people, and recognizes the sincerity of their hearts. However, it is a different matter for those who could attend church but are too lazy, or put other things such as entertainment and amusements before God, or who harbor bitterness or indifference toward other believers.

It is important to attend church for the following reasons:

(1) It is an Expression of our Love for God

Going to church is a visible, tangible expression of our love and worship toward God. It is where we can gather with other believers to publicly bear witness of our faith and trust in God, something that is required of all Christians (Matt. 10:32-33) — and it is where we can bring Him offerings of praise, thanks, and honor, which are pleasing to Him. The psalmist wrote, “I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You” (Psa. 22:22). People are often motivated toward church attendance for how it will bless themselves, however we should remember that the primary purpose of the corporate gathering is to bring “service” to the Lord as a blessing to Him (Psa. 134:2). Indeed, the Lord is deserving of our time and energy to honor Him with our service of devotion. “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created” (Rev. 4:11).

(2) It builds up our Spiritual Strength

Receiving the preaching and teaching of the Word of God increases our faith and builds us up spiritually. Every believer knows what it is to face spiritual conflicts to their faith, and must realize the importance of being fed spiritually so that they can overcome the challenges. Paul states that Christians face a wrestling match with the Devil and his evil spiritual forces, and warns that the church must put on spiritual armor for protection, as it will take everything at our disposal to stand (Eph. 6:10-18). How important that we take every opportunity available to receive ministry and strength from God’s Word. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).

(3) It brings a special visitation of the Lord’s Presence

There is the promise of a special visitation of the Lord’s presence whenever two or more gather specifically in the name of Jesus. By implication, this means whenever Jesus is the object of gathered prayer, worship, praise, preaching, etc. Even though Jesus resides within the heart of every believer, he honors a gathering in his name by coming in the “midst,” with his power, awareness, and anointing. In such a gathering, Christ is able to do things in hearts that he may not at any other time. The scripture says that God inhabits the praise of His people (Psa. 22:3), and in such an atmosphere the Holy Spirit will often manifest spiritual gifts that minister to the body of Christ. “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20).

(4) It provides fellowship with other Christians

Gathering together also has compounded importance to the relationship of the Christian brethren. The Bible makes it clear that a right relationship with God requires a “vertical” and “horizontal” alignment — that is, we must have a vertical fellowship with God and a horizontal fellowship with other believers. It is not possible to love God and refuse to love the brethren. If you have a problem loving other Christians, you have a problem in your relationship with God. Scripture warns us that unforgiveness toward others will void God’s forgiveness of our own sins (Matt. 6:15). John wrote, “He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him” (1 John 2:9-10).

One of the most important reasons that we go to church is to practice love toward the brethren in the form of fellowship. The Bible clearly shows that if we have a right relationship with God, we have fellowship with others believers. “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Keeping ourselves in love and harmony with other believers keeps us humble before God so that Christ’s blood can continue to cleanse us from our sins.

(5) It is an act of obedience to God

Not to be forgotten, going to church is also a matter of obeying God’s Word. The writer of the Hebrew epistle tells us not to forsake assembling together, implying that continued absence can lead to willful sin. “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,” (Heb. 10:24-26). Once again, we are reminded that a great part of the purpose of the gathering is for the consideration of our brethren, coming together to help motivate and encourage one another. This is a responsibility charged to every believer. To reject church attendance, is a rejection of one of the sacred duties of the believer. “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).

(6) It provides accountability to spiritual leadership

More strong evidence that proves that we’re to be a part of a church fellowship, is that we’re told to submit to the authority of spiritual leaders (within the boundaries of God’s Word). “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you” (Heb. 13:17). God designed this system of accountability for the progress and protection of His flock. Obviously, this really isn’t possible unless we are a part of an organized fellowship which has identified elders, pastors, or leaders. It is easy to see that one cannot genuinely be under submission to a TV pastor who has never met you. Nor is it possible to be under submission by visiting a different church each week. The Bible tells us to know them that are over us in the Lord (1 Thes. 5:12). Submission necessitates a commitment and relationship to a local body of believers and to their spiritual leaders.

(7) It combines our spiritual strength in prayer

The Bible indicates that agreement in prayer with other believers has special favor with God. “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven” (Matt. 18:19). There is multiplied strength in the combined faith of God’s people, and it is clear that greater spiritual gains can be realized through corporate prayer and worship. This agrees with how God has historically blessed the union of His people in battle against their enemies. “Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you” (Lev. 26:8).

(8) It honors the Lord’s Day

The fourth commandment of the law that God gave Moses was to set aside the seventh day of the week, Saturday, as a holy day to the Lord. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Ex. 20:8). This was, and will always remain, the official Sabbath. However, after Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, Sunday, the early Christians began meeting together on this day as well as with the Jewish community in the synagogues on the Sabbath. History indicates that due to the enmity of the orthodox Jews toward the Christian Jews in their midst, the Jewish Christians were eventually ostracized. And although they were no longer bound to a rigid code of laws (Gal. 3:10-11, Col. 2:16), it is believed that they came to view Sunday as a combined observance of the Sabbath and the resurrection day of Jesus (Acts 20:7, 1 Cor. 16:2). This day of Christian worship came to be called the Lord’s Day (Rev. 1:10), a day to fellowship in celebration of the resurrection, to worship, pray and study the Word together.

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” Philippians 4:6 (NLT)

1. Don’t worry about anything. Worrying doesn’t change anything. It’s stewing without doing. There’s no such thing as born worriers; worry is a learned response. You learned it from your parents. You learned it from your peers. You learned it from experience. That’s good news. The fact that worry is learned means it can also be unlearned. Jesus says, “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today” (Matthew 6:34, NLT).

2. Pray about everything. Use the time you’ve spent worrying for praying. If you prayed as much as you worried, you’d have a whole lot less to worry about. Some people think God only cares about religious things, such as how many people I invite to church or my tithing. Is God interested in car payments? Yes. He’s interested in every detail of your life. That means you can take any problem you face to God.

3. Thank God in all things. Whenever you pray, you should always pray with thanksgiving. The healthiest human emotion is not love, but gratitude. It actually increases your immunities; it makes you more resistant to stress and less susceptible to illness. People who are grateful are happy. But people who are ungrateful are miserable because nothing makes them happy. They’re never satisfied; it’s never good enough. So if you cultivate the attitude of gratitude, of being thankful in everything, it reduces stress in your life.

What a guarantee! He is guaranteeing peace of mind.

Can you imagine a man wrestling with God and winning?

Perhaps the strangest thing is that Jacob was not defeated until the Man “touched the socket of his thigh, so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him” (v.25).

Even then Jacob still would not let go of the Man.  Jacob pleaded, “I will not let you go unless you bless me” (v.26).

In a significant way, Jacob though crippled and therefore unable to win, pleaded for a blessing. It was the voice of a man who was subdued, beaten at his own game, crippled in the last agony of despair as he was pegged to the matt.

The “heel catcher” was caught and subdued before he could be blessed.

The blessing took the form of a new name.  Jacob’s name was changed to Israel – “he who strives with God.”

Has God had to cripple you to bless you?  Jacob, now Israel, limped for the rest of his life.  Everywhere he went people would ask, “Jacob, why are you limping?”

Jacob won when he was beaten.  He triumphed when he yielded.  God crippled Jacob and broke him of his being a supplanter, deceiver, and attacker from the rear.

Every time Jacob limped, it was a constant reminder that God won at last.

Does every limp in your life remind you of your weakness?  Does it make you conscious of the evil within you?  Does it bring to bear upon your conscious mind that which baffles, beats, and blisters your personal life?

God opens heaven and blesses us when we lay our head down on a cold, hard, rough, unkind, unsympathetic hostile stone.

The earlier we learn this great spiritual principle, the better off we are in life.

When the God of Jacob is our refuge, He puts His hand on us to teach us great spiritual lessons, to wound us, cripple us, in order that He might give us a deeper healing.  He cripples to make us stronger.

God removed all of Jacob’s false securities that night and made him depend upon Him alone.  The “God of Jacob” became his refuge.

Have you been to the Jabbok River?  Have you wrestled with God until He had made you confess your real character and nature to Him?  Has He humbled you by placing His finger in the socket of your thigh and made you leave limping because you wrestled with God?

God cannot bless us and use us until He has broken us.  He has to put a scar on our selfish flesh to remind us what our lives are without His abiding presence to bless us.

Heritage is freshly off a Great Awakening, but what is next. First, we need to understand what a revival is. Revival brings much needed exposure to the Word of God, and the Word of God refreshes and revives the faith that lives within us. We gain a new-found hunger for the things of God that have been lost after the mundane and stressful things of life take hold upon us. After the meetings pass, when the services become “normal” and the mundane/stressful things of life continue, how can we KEEP a hunger for the things of God?

Our money is a direct reflection of the priorities of our lives. We like to disconnect the two, but really they are very connected. Jesus said, “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be” (Luke 12:34). We will invest in our passions. If you want to find out what a person’s interests are, then take a tour of their checkbook or expense account and see where they are spending their money.

Although some make more money than others and some are more successful than others, here is the thing we all need to keep in mind: We need to take what God has given us and be wise stewards over it, investing generously in the work of the kingdom of God. God will bless generosity.

Paul wrote, “You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. ‘For God loves a person who gives cheerfully’ ” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

Am I saying that if you give, then God will make you rich?

No, I am not saying that at all. But Scripture connects the two. Paul follows up 2 Corinthians 9:7 with this statement: “And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others” (verse 8).

I often hear people say, “I am afraid I don’t know if I have enough faith.” How much faith do you need in order to be saved?

The Bible does not teach that you are justified because of your faith. Faith is not works.

Faith is nothing more than the instrument to receive our salvation. Nowhere in Scripture will you find that we are justified on account of our faith. The Scripture says that we are justified by faith or through faith. Faith is nothing but the channel by which this righteousness of God in Christ becomes ours. It is not our faith that saves us.

The whole emphasis on salvation by faith is clearly on the object of our faith: Jesus Christ. Jesus saves! Faith does not save us. Jesus alone does that.

Spurgeon once said, “It does not take a strong faith to save you, just faith. The weakness of your faith will not destroy you. A trembling hand may receive a golden gift.”

The apostle Paul wrote, “The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe” (v. 22). Sinners are “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith” (vv. 24-25a). God did it this way as a demonstration “that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (v. 26). You cannot boast if you are saved by grace through faith in Christ, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law” (v. 28). Moreover, “He will justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcised through faith” (v. 30).

The Apostle Paul tells about a lovely woman who found herself married to a demanding perfectionist. He laid the law down to her day after day. He made insistent demands on her behavior. There was no escaping his tyrannical guilt trips. No matter how hard she tired nothing she ever did was good enough to please him. It was impossible to live up to his standards of behavior and conduct. No matter how hard she tried, she was a failure.

Because of his insistent attitudes, her feelings altered between fear of his exacting demands and judgment to a sense of complete failure, guilt, resentment and hostility. Her situation was hopeless. He was perfect and she was just the opposite. Living with him was impossible.

How long could she go on in this situation? Secretly she wished he were dead. Nevertheless, he was in perfect health and strict moralist. He wasn’t going to go away. He wasn’t going to die, and for him divorce was out of the picture.

Then would you know it, she met another man. This man was everything she ever wanted. Yes, he was perfect, yet it was balanced with love. There was grace about him. Her new suitor was everything she ever wanted. She found it impossible to resist his intense love for her. Moreover, she desired a mature intimate love relationship with him!

In time, he asked her to be his. Oh, yes, he was aware of her present state. She belonged to another man. She was married. Moreover, the law was very clear about adultery. “The law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives.” When a person dies that is the end of the authority of the law. However, after he dies she is free to marry anyone she pleases. Since her husband was not going to die, and he would never consent to divorce there was only one alternative. She would have to die! Then the law could have no effect on her. She could marry whomever she pleased and be innocent.

I know. You are asking the question, “But if she were dead, how could she possibly marry her suitor?”

There is only one way. She would have to die and rise from the dead!

Paul used a simple illustration of marriage law to show how Christians have been freed from law in order to be married to Jesus Christ. His antagonists had raised question, “But what about the law?” “Doesn’t salvation by grace through faith lead to immorality?” Legalists still argue the same point, “Doesn’t the gospel you are preaching annul the law or set it aside?”

Paul’s argument is that the law is fully honored and satisfied in the good news of God’s free justification of the sinner based on the atoning death of Christ. The very salvation God provides in Christ fulfills the law. Moreover, it liberates those who have been held in its bondage so they can produce righteousness.

 Remember, “we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him” (6:5–8).

Please keep in mind the context of Romans chapters five and six. The believer has died to sin (6:2) and to law (7:4). He is free from sin (6:18) and from law (7:3). He is “justified from sin” (6:7) and discharged “from law” (7:6). He walks in newness of life (6:4) and serves in newness of Spirit (7:6).

The “law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good,” but it cannot save anyone. Just as the law cannot save, it also cannot sanctify. The law never produced righteousness in anyone. It can only bring condemnation because no one can live up to its holy demands. It does not empower anyone to live according to its high standards. Everyone is bound to the law as long as he or she lives. So how can we be fruitful? The answer to a holy life is not the law, but a person living within us through the power of His resurrection. That is little good, however, if we are still under bondage to the law. How can we be released from the law? Only by dying to the law. Death must terminate our old relationship in order to enter into a new, fruitful relationship with Jesus Christ. In order to produce holiness in our lives we must die to the law in order to be free for Jesus Christ. The rescuer is a person—Jesus Christ.

Great saints down through history of Christianity have never bragged, “How good I am,” but “Get away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8). That is the authentic lament of the true Christian.

The apostle Paul shares with us in Romans seven the intimacy of his own struggle. The emotion reveals personal involvement. I love the personal honesty of the apostle Paul. I wish more of us preachers in our day were as honest.

What happens to the believer when he sins? What we see in Romans seven is the mature believer and how he responds to the sin that dwells within him.

In Romans chapter seven the apostle Paul is still a sinner, no matter how much out of character that may be. However, Paul does reveal to us in this chapter his own experiences when he does sin. This is agonizing for the apostle. “For I do not do what I want–instead, I do what I hate” (v. 15 NET). He does not want to sin. Indeed, the desire is there to resist temptation, but he failed. He does not want to sin, but he is weak in the flesh (v. 16). When Paul thinks about the sin he ponders, “nothing good lives in me” (v. 18). And he reasons, “For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh, for I want to do the good, but I cannot do it” (v. 18 NET). It is very clear in this paragraph the apostle does not deny his personal responsibility, for he knows he is the one who sinned. It is not a figment of his deluded imagination. “For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want!” (v. 19 NET).

What is the problem Paul? Sin. It is sin living in me (v. 20). The principle of sin is at work. I sin in spite of the fact that I have been spiritually regenerated. “Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me” (v. 20 NET). The old nature leads him to sin even when he does not want to. There is within the apostle Paul a power of evil that is too strong for him for he is enslaved to sin, and a prisoner. He is led captive by the law of sin. Sin was not eradicated when Paul was born again.

These facts did not give Paul license to sin, however, and neither do they give us freedom to sin it up. It is not characteristic of his life, but the exception. Normally, he lives in victory. The emphasis Paul is making is that, yes, the believer does sin, and when he does his conscience is alive to the horror of it. It does not matter to Paul that it is occasional; it is of concern to him that it happened at all.

How tragic when Christians do not see the seriousness of their sins and live in ease. No one is so blind as the person who will not see and repent of his own sins.

The apostle Paul shares the intimacy of his own personal struggle and reveals his own efforts to live in a manner pleasing to God. We love him as an apostle and teacher because he can identify with us. These are the emotions and responses of a mature Christian revealing his own experience before God.

“What a wretched man I am!” does not sound like an unregenerate person. These are the words of someone who is a believer and sensitive to the work of the Holy Spirit in his heart. He is aware of his inability to always do what is right.

Calvin said, “We are so addicted to sin, that we can do nothing of our own accord but sin.” The apostle wants to do right, but he cannot in his own strength.

The whole point Paul is driving at is the more we grow in Christ-likeness the more clearly we realize that we fail to meet the high standards God sets before us as Christians. This fact forces us to look to Jesus Christ and the strength He gives in His Spirit to live the victorious life “in Christ.”

The power of persistent prayer is incredible. Strength rises up in your voice as you continuously seek God’s answer to your prayers. Rest assured that He will always answer: through fulfillment of your prayer, a firm “no,” or by guiding your heart in a different direction, causing you to no longer seek the answer to that prayer. Go ahead and pray a specific prayer daily.

1. Everything in the Christian life depends upon what Christ has done for us on the cross, and what He continues to do in and through us as He lives His life in us. Not only has He died for us, but also through a mystical union of the believer with Him we are “in Christ,” and He is “in you.”
   The most important principle of sanctification is counting as true what God Himself has already done for us. We are to count as true what is, according to God’s Word, true.
   The key to our progressive sanctification is in knowing that God has taken us out of Adam and has joined us to Jesus Christ. We are no longer subject to the reign of sin and death, but are now transferred to the kingdom of God.
   The apostle Paul says our responsibility is to “consider [reckon] yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). He uses an accounting term in the imperative tense. Be constantly counting upon the fact that you are dead to sin, but also alive to God in Christ Jesus.
   The word translated “reckon” or “consider” is a key word in the apostle Paul’s teaching on sanctification. He calls upon us to “count, reckon, impute” on certain facts. It is an accounting word that means to take into account, to calculate, to estimate. We are to impute or “to put to one’s account” certain facts. The idea “to reckon” means “to put to one’s account.” It simply means to believe that what God says in His Word is really true in your life.
   Paul is admonishing the believer in Christ to recognize something that is already an accomplished fact. Consider, and keep constantly before you, this truth about who you are in Christ. We are commanded to reckon as facts who we are in our relationship with Christ.
   How tragic that most Christians do not know who they are in Christ. They have no idea about their vital union in Christ.
   They are to “count themselves “dead in reference to “sin but alive to God.” When did you die? When you put your faith in Christ and were born again. Since they are dead to its power (Rom. 6:2), they ought to recognize that fact and not continue in sin. Instead they are to realize they have new “life in Christ,” and they share His resurrection life (Eph. 2:5-6; Col. 2:12-13).
   Our sins have been reckoned to Christ and punished in His death on the cross. This is a fact that cannot be changed. His righteousness has been credited to our account. This happened the moment we put our faith in Christ as our Savior. Jesus actually died for our sins as our substitute. He suffered our transgressions (Isa. 53:5-6). “The wages of sin is death,” and Christ paid that debt in full. That is a fact to be reckoned upon ever day of our lives. It is our responsibility to count upon this fact and apply it to our daily lives.
   Moreover, He not only died for our sins, but God has credited the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ to our accounting ledger. His right standing in the Father’s sight has been transferred to our account, and God now accounts us righteous in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).
   The critical point is that the born again Christian count as true this great fact as God sees it. It is a completed transaction. God has acquitted us forever. We must reckon as true what God has already done for us.
   We are no longer subject to the reign of sin and death. We are now under the power of the kingdom of God and His rule by grace.
   The apostle Paul did not tell us to feel a certain way, but to act on God’s Word and claim these truths for ourselves. When we count on these facts they result in actions and changes in our behaviors. We act by faith on what we know to be the truth. The result is a behavioral change.
   Remember, Paul is using an accounting term. If I give my employees a check and say there is money in the bank to cover your check I expect them to go to the bank and cash their checks and collect their money. If they do not they are not reckoning or counting on the money being theirs in the bank. Reckoning is acting on the fact that the money is there.
   In these Scriptures God does not command us to become dead to sin. He tells us that we are already dead to sin and alive unto God. He commands us to act on this great truth. These facts are still true even if we do not act on them. That is the tragedy in many believer’s lives. They do not act on the truths about their relationship with Christ.
   “We are dead to sin” does not mean we are immune to sin. It does not mean that sin as a force in me is dead. Sin is a force in me, even though its effective power over the believer has been broken. We no longer have to be slaves of sin (Romans 6:6). Sin does not have to dominate our bodies. We do not have to yield to it. We now have a new power within and available to us at all times. We are to learn to think of ourselves as individuals who have been delivered from the power of sin. It does not have to rule over us. There is a sense in which we can be as holy as we want to be.
   Sin has not been eradicated from the believer, but we are freed from the bondage of sin. We were slaves whose bondage has been broken. We were slaves to our sinful nature, who have now become new creatures in Christ. We are to count upon the fact that we are dead to sin, and alive to God in Jesus Christ.
   Sin is not dead in Christians. It is something that we have to deal with daily because we are sinners. We do face temptation daily, but we do not have to yield to it. Its power has been broken.
   Sin has its hold on the believer through our bodies. Sin dwells within. The new man in Christ is dead to sin meaning that the hold is on my body. I now have a choice as to whether I will use my body to serve sin or God. Sin cannot dominate or destroy what I have become in Christ. I can yield to sin, but the new person will abhor sin and long for righteousness. This is why Paul admonishes the Christian, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts” (Rom. 6:12).
   We often do sin; therefore, Paul exhorts us to not yield our bodies to sin because we do not have to. We have other options. We are pressing forward to new goals because we no longer are satisfied by what the body of sin offers (Phil. 3:12-14; 2 Cor. 5:17-18). The sharing in this resurrection life of Christ begins at the moment of regeneration, but it will continue as a believer shares eternity with the Lord. Resurrection life is eternal in quality and everlasting in duration.
   “Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God” (Rom. 6:13). Sin does not have to be master over the true Christian. “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (v. 14).
   A life of holiness begins with a change in the way we think about what Christ did for us. “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Then we must always act on what we know to be the truth.