November Newsletter: Church Talk

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by: Elder Randy Waters

11/05/2024

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Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the firmament of His power. Psalm 150:1

We ought to praise the Lord in every place and all the time! He sure is worthy of praise — a praiseworthy God indeed. He meets our every need, and our greatest need is realizing our need of Him. The more we need God, the more He supplies to fulfill our need. And the more our needs are met, the more we want to thank Him for meeting them. Actually, we should be real quick to meet Him since He has condescended so graciously to meet with us and for us. One of the grandest places to meet God is in His church. 

I understand that ‘back in the day,’ church houses were called meeting houses. And, we know from the account of the Apostles, that people often met in their personal homes as well to praise God. But is it not wonderful that we have a building called a church to meet with God’s people and praise the Lord there?

Psalm one hundred and fifty is a psalm of praise and the very first verse lays out the two great auditoriums of praise, the sanctuary and the sky. It would be real difficult to look into the sky on a starry night and not praise the Lord. Likewise, anyone saved by grace would be hard pressed not to praise the Lord while sitting in a church.

The church is the place to praise God.

“Praise ye the Lord” is about the same as “forsake not the assembling of yourselves.” Both are commands from the Lord of the universe. We should sincerely thank God for provid- ing a place to do what He says do. The best way to show our appreciation for having a house of grace is to be there.

Unfortunately, the church has a lot of competition in our day and age. The devil doesn’t like us going to church so much, so he tempts us not to go by keeping us busy with things and problems which cause us either to feel so good about what we’re doing apart from church that we just can’t drop any of it long enough to present ourselves in the proper place; or else we feel so bad about the way our lives have turned out that we can- not go and sit around folks whose lives appear to be so perfect.

I have noticed lots of houses and restaurants and storage build- ings being built in Statesboro, Georgia. I have not however, seen any new church buildings being built, although some churches have changed their names. Today, it seems we have so much pride and so much stuff that we would rather praise ourselves going to the car wash for cleansing and eating out at a restaurant for strength than to go to church to present ourselves as living sacrifices and there to find cleans- ing and the spiritual strength which really matters and we so desperately need.

It doesn’t really matter much if the church we attend is large or small. What matters is that the Bible is preached there and that we go there not to be blessed but to worship the Lord. The strength of Gide- on’s army was not in how many men were marching and bearing arms, but in every man being in his place.

The church is the place to find peace.

If peace is not the absence of problems, and it’s not, then the best place to find peace is in the sanctuary of the sovereign Lord of the uni- verse. God says through the prophet Isaiah that perfect peace happens when we focus on the Almighty. The church is the place to go to get our minds off our worries and on God. It’s good to go to the mountains or to the beach to “unclutter and unmuddle” our feelings, but if you want to feel really good about everything, there’s no better place than sitting at Jesus’s feet and being in the presence of the Prince of Peace.

I remember an occasion during the Covid church shut down era, that a member of SPBC called me and asked if she could just come by the church during the week and sit in the sanctuary by herself just for the peace it would bring to her. For sure, you don’t have to go to church to praise God, but you can do it there. And when you do, you will find peace and peace happens in the place specifically set apart to worship the one who made peace with God for us.

The church is where His promises are proclaimed.

It’s good to read the Bible on our own and we should read it a lot! But intensity matters with God and to our spiritual being as well. A place especially dedicated to sing hymns, pray, and preach is the place to be to find the promises that promote power and render perse- verance in a world that hates God and is determined to undermine and discourage the true Christian desiring to follow Jesus.

In a sense, the church as a place, is a place where we can sit and stand at the same time. We can sit on the premises yet stand on the prom- ises of God, for the church is where those promises are magnified. Haven’t you sung, “Standing on the Promises” in a church before? I guess we could sing that hymn in the shower, in the car, or on the tractor, but I doubt it would do us nearly as much good as singing it in church with the saints of God!

“Standing on the promises of Christ my King! Thro eternal ages let His praises ring,
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing, Standing on the promises of God.”

You know, don’t you, that if you don’t stand for something you might fall for anything? The church is where we can stand on and stand for God’s promises. God always keeps His promises and since He says that where two or three are gathered in His name He will be there too, the best reason I know to praise God in the sanctuary
is because He is really there. Then no wonder there is something very special about this place.

Brother Randy

Blog comments will be sent to the moderator
Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the firmament of His power. Psalm 150:1

We ought to praise the Lord in every place and all the time! He sure is worthy of praise — a praiseworthy God indeed. He meets our every need, and our greatest need is realizing our need of Him. The more we need God, the more He supplies to fulfill our need. And the more our needs are met, the more we want to thank Him for meeting them. Actually, we should be real quick to meet Him since He has condescended so graciously to meet with us and for us. One of the grandest places to meet God is in His church. 

I understand that ‘back in the day,’ church houses were called meeting houses. And, we know from the account of the Apostles, that people often met in their personal homes as well to praise God. But is it not wonderful that we have a building called a church to meet with God’s people and praise the Lord there?

Psalm one hundred and fifty is a psalm of praise and the very first verse lays out the two great auditoriums of praise, the sanctuary and the sky. It would be real difficult to look into the sky on a starry night and not praise the Lord. Likewise, anyone saved by grace would be hard pressed not to praise the Lord while sitting in a church.

The church is the place to praise God.

“Praise ye the Lord” is about the same as “forsake not the assembling of yourselves.” Both are commands from the Lord of the universe. We should sincerely thank God for provid- ing a place to do what He says do. The best way to show our appreciation for having a house of grace is to be there.

Unfortunately, the church has a lot of competition in our day and age. The devil doesn’t like us going to church so much, so he tempts us not to go by keeping us busy with things and problems which cause us either to feel so good about what we’re doing apart from church that we just can’t drop any of it long enough to present ourselves in the proper place; or else we feel so bad about the way our lives have turned out that we can- not go and sit around folks whose lives appear to be so perfect.

I have noticed lots of houses and restaurants and storage build- ings being built in Statesboro, Georgia. I have not however, seen any new church buildings being built, although some churches have changed their names. Today, it seems we have so much pride and so much stuff that we would rather praise ourselves going to the car wash for cleansing and eating out at a restaurant for strength than to go to church to present ourselves as living sacrifices and there to find cleans- ing and the spiritual strength which really matters and we so desperately need.

It doesn’t really matter much if the church we attend is large or small. What matters is that the Bible is preached there and that we go there not to be blessed but to worship the Lord. The strength of Gide- on’s army was not in how many men were marching and bearing arms, but in every man being in his place.

The church is the place to find peace.

If peace is not the absence of problems, and it’s not, then the best place to find peace is in the sanctuary of the sovereign Lord of the uni- verse. God says through the prophet Isaiah that perfect peace happens when we focus on the Almighty. The church is the place to go to get our minds off our worries and on God. It’s good to go to the mountains or to the beach to “unclutter and unmuddle” our feelings, but if you want to feel really good about everything, there’s no better place than sitting at Jesus’s feet and being in the presence of the Prince of Peace.

I remember an occasion during the Covid church shut down era, that a member of SPBC called me and asked if she could just come by the church during the week and sit in the sanctuary by herself just for the peace it would bring to her. For sure, you don’t have to go to church to praise God, but you can do it there. And when you do, you will find peace and peace happens in the place specifically set apart to worship the one who made peace with God for us.

The church is where His promises are proclaimed.

It’s good to read the Bible on our own and we should read it a lot! But intensity matters with God and to our spiritual being as well. A place especially dedicated to sing hymns, pray, and preach is the place to be to find the promises that promote power and render perse- verance in a world that hates God and is determined to undermine and discourage the true Christian desiring to follow Jesus.

In a sense, the church as a place, is a place where we can sit and stand at the same time. We can sit on the premises yet stand on the prom- ises of God, for the church is where those promises are magnified. Haven’t you sung, “Standing on the Promises” in a church before? I guess we could sing that hymn in the shower, in the car, or on the tractor, but I doubt it would do us nearly as much good as singing it in church with the saints of God!

“Standing on the promises of Christ my King! Thro eternal ages let His praises ring,
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing, Standing on the promises of God.”

You know, don’t you, that if you don’t stand for something you might fall for anything? The church is where we can stand on and stand for God’s promises. God always keeps His promises and since He says that where two or three are gathered in His name He will be there too, the best reason I know to praise God in the sanctuary
is because He is really there. Then no wonder there is something very special about this place.

Brother Randy

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