“And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.”
Acts 1:4 KJV
The word church and the need for it made more sense (at least to me) after Pentecost. I see here that if Christianity was meant to be individually-driven or oriented, then the bible would have recorded that on the day of Pentecost, 120 people got lighted up by the Holy Spirit in their respective homes, or better still, in different cities.
For instance, Peter could have been at Galilee, Philip at Nazareth or James and John in Judea.
But No! The occurrence that officially kick-started the beginning of greater works by the early church came with specific instructions, one of which was “tarry ye in Jerusalem, till ye are endued with power.” At the end of the day, the fire surely came, to the upper room, upon the people present there.
Beloved, this goes to show us that together, the church can do so much more. In the chapters that follow in the book of Acts, we see the havoc the early church wreaked on the kingdom of darkness. And even when it was God’s will that they be scattered abroad (for the salvation of the gentiles), believers continued to identify in clusters for the sake of edification and strengthening.
See, I need the fellowship. You need the fellowship too. Do not be deceived. I settled this in my heart a long time ago, and upon this realization, I then decided to be deliberate in my choice of what I’d call fellowship. So yes, like I tell people who care to listen, church (literally and in any other context the discussion points to), means a whole lot to me.
Individually, we are lively stones. But together, we make a great house.
There’s something called zeal ignited by corporate anointing and fire. How many times have you felt down (in mind and spirit), only to get to church and by reason of the word, worship or prayers, you get so revived you can hardly believe it?
How many times have you heard a word but it was so choked by doubts in your heart till you received a confirmation from someone on the pulpit who obviously had no idea of your situation at that time?
As much as you can, do away with that ‘I can serve God on my own terms’ mentality. ‘My heart is all that matters’, or is that not what they say? Yes, your heart matters, a lot actually. But is it really all that matters?
How do you edify yourself alone? Do you consider the part of scripture that says “How good is it for brethren to dwell together” inconsequential or irrelevant?
Someone reading this is probably burning with tenable real-life instances of church-sponsored hurt, and is thinking Sinuola doesn’t know what she’s saying. Beloved, this post does not seek to invalidate or trivialize your experiences. We’ve all had our share of that, only some of us, more than others.
Not delving into the matter of ‘church hurt’ is an act of deliberate restraint as I don’t want the message of this piece to be lost by reason of digression. But it will surely be discussed, as led.
The featured image is one that captures an important season of my life in which God showed me a deeper meaning of Christian fellowship.
By reason of my time as a Youth Corper, I came into the NCCF family and was once again reminded of how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in love. (The picture was taken during our time at the NCCF National Conference in the city of Jos, Plateau State.)
Predators will always be attracted at the sight of a lone prey. There is a reason why Jesus called us sheep. What Good Shepherd wants his sheep to exist as loners, or scattered all over the place?
Grace to you always,
Sinuola.
8 Comments
Inspiring and insightful. More unctions in Jesus name. 👏🙏
Amen!
Thank you.
More grace
More grace sis
It amazing.. More Grace G-MD
Amen, God bless you too.
I don’t know who this is, but it has to be my NCCF fam✌️.
Exceeding Grace to you mam.
Amen. Thank you for reading, sir.