Why You Need To Attend Church Regularly Series

Part 1

Acts 2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

there is just something about being together in one place that God loves

Psalm 133

V2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

People are in awe, and some are critical

Peter gets up to preach ...

V40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptised, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

The Fellowship of the Believers

v42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Please take not of the word DEVOTED

it carries the idea of commitment

they were faithful

This means that they were regular attenders...at bible study...at services where the word was taught and preached...they were faithful to prayer meetings....to fellowship meetings

They were committed to the life of the church

They moved from being visitors to becoming partners

This message will benefit everyone......so it’s for all

But I specifically want to aim this message to those who want to partner with me in building a great, God-honouring Church

For any organisation to succeed one of the main ingredients is Commitment

And part of that commitment is (Communication)....excusing yourself when you can’t make it, giving a reason.

There are 5 areas of commitment that we need to excel in if we are going to be a successful, God-honouring church

Today I want to look at the first area.....attendance...this is the entry level

You are not going to be able to do the other 4 effectively if you cannot get this first one correct

Attendance...at church meetings....Sunday’s....prayer meetings....house groups, etc

Acts 1....speaks about the 120 ...

They were the church...the body of believers

They organised themselves....met regularly.....undertook Church business....for example, added another apostle under the direction of Peter

In other words, Peter had a team he could depend upon, count on, rely on....for prayer, for support, agreement

At Pentecost...they (120) were all together in one place

120.....

Somebody was counting.....

Somebody is keeping a record....

God is counting

When God does the counting in meetings, Will he be able to count on you

I once said God is not interested in numbers.....but as soon as I said that I felt a check in my spirit....

He’s not governed by numbers...he can do great things with one person or with many

But he IS interested in numbers...for salvation....for faithfulness

God records numbers...you see this in the Bible as well

See Acts 18

9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.

Paul was going to preach with opposition or not

But God said that in that particular city he was not going to be attacked because He had many people that belonged to Him... in other words there were many people that loved God, His Kingdom etc

And so Paul, inadvertently, had a lot of people on his side.

And because of that Paul was not going to be attacked

So even though there were people that would have loved to attack Paul, the presence of other (true) believers was like a shield around Paul.

In churches, often the only reason why the pastor gets attacked, is because there’s not enough people on his side.

People must first be committed to the Lord, then they must be committed to the undershepherd in such a way that others will be afraid to attack the pastor.

A lot of people who attend church like the pastor for what they can get.

But we have to love the leader because of the office he stands in.

And we have to respect and honour that office

Some people give more respect and honour to their worldly, unsaved leaders than they do to their spiritual leaders

One of the basic ways we show respect and honour is by being at the meetings he’s organised!

V42....They devoted themselves....

I believe that the only reason these new believers became devoted...

Is because the 120 maturer Believers before them were devoted themselves!

We can’t expect others to be devoted if we ourselves are not