CHURCH PEOPLE
by
Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid
(December 29, 2020)
“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” (John 4: 23, King James Version [KJV]).
Greetings in the Holy Name of Jesus Yahshuah,
My sisters and brothers, you are called as friends of Christ Jesus Yahshuah in the one body of holiness called the church; you are church people yet the church you seek is in your heart. “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.” [Colossians 3: 15, KJV]. In dialogue you hear church people say:
I did what I do because I do what I did.
The trust I have in me is in me who I trust.
The world condition is the condition of the world.
I do count myself in because in myself I count.
Think before you speak or speak before you think.
We are the one body of Christ Jesus for Christ Jesus is the one body.
How many we’s are in one? Possibly, in the one there are one too many.
I cannot count and the count I cannot count is still a count.
What have you today? Today, I have you.
With honor, I cherish my faithfulness for it is my faithfulness that I cherish, in honor.
To love the LORD GOD is a beautiful feeling of love and that beautiful feeling of love for the LORD GOD is to love.
I live and I die each day for the love of God for the love of God lives and dies each day.
How big is your Christ Jesus in you? My Christ Jesus is as big as I am yet bigger than I could be for to be as big as I could be could make me not so big, at all.
I have a friend in Jesus. Jesus is my friend.
Of course the old saying, if God will give me time. I will give God my time. Therefore, we seek what we speak or is what we speak deep enough in our hearts for us to seek?
We must draw ourselves near to God [“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded.” [James 4: 8, KJV]. There is this space between me and my LORD GOD that keeps getting bigger than I can cross over to and the feeling of needing to draw closer to my God will not let me be. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” [Romans 12: 8, KJV ]. This feeling I have in me will not let me go. “A man [that hath] friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend [that] sticketh closer than a brother.”[“Proverbs 18: 24, KJV].
Do you as church people think you are capable of feeling truth, in love? Is the love of church people a fleeting fantasy dancing between the sheets? Is the love of church people a sustainable force that all who meet you adore? Or, are church people here today and gone tomorrow not in words or deeds but in flesh? How much do church people need the flesh moreso than they need the spirituality of God’s need for worship?
According to Apostle John, in 1 John 3: 1, KJV, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” Apostle James said, “And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.” [2: 23, KJV]. “A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” [Proverbs 17: 17, KJV]. According to Apostle John there is a condition to God’s friendship such as is known to mankind that “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” [John 15: 14, KJV].
Do you dialogue with God? Do you talk to God as your friend? “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” [John 15: 14, KJV]. In this day and time, I do not think anyone wants to hear the ultimatum, Will you die for me? Not even a service pet yet we find ourselves without actually noticing that we are in that arena of sacrifice fighting the good fight over something about friendship—-our love—-the love of church people, as we see domestic violence escalating all around us and as we choose to blame it all on the Coronavirus COVID-19, the pressure of it all or the lack thereof.
Not too discerning at times we find ourselves contemplating: too much and not enough, abandonment, detachment, surrealities, dejavu, flashbacks, how it used to be between us, what has happened to us, I need you, I do not see you, not the way I used to see you. Is it money that we see each other less perfectly than in the fade out and fade in? Are we two ships passing in the night? [“The poem of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow coined this phrase about 150 years ago, in part three of his poem Tales of a Wayside Inn, where it reads:) or Paul Laurence Dunbar that speaks of missed opportunities ]:
“Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing, only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another, only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.”
“Out in the sky the great dark clouds are massing; I look far out into the pregnant night, Where I can hear a solemn booming gun And catch the gleaming of a random light, That tells me that the ship I seek is passing, passing.”
I want more even in the pandemic; yes, I still want more. I need more. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” [John 15: 13, KJV].
Moreover, in dialogue you say you have given me your life yet right now, I do not feel it. I do not see it. According to Apostle Matthew, Jesus is near, “Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” [11: 28, KJV]. Accordingly Apostle John, in Revelations said Jesus is standing at the door, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” [3: 20, KJV].
Let us in spirit feel the truth of GOD, in love yet let us ground ourselves in the realities of the day, in truth that not everyone knocking at your door is Jesus Christ Yahshuah. There could be real harm out there—-lost souls, hurting so much they have resolved to hurt others. Do be careful in living the love you live in the life God gave you. As much as we dialogue, in love and in friendship there is still forces of darkness out there. Stay safe, church people in God’s love and truth.
In closing, Apostle Paul to the Philippians said:
“If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all. For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me. But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.
For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.
For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.
But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel. Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly.
Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.
For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation: Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.” [2: 1-30, KJV].
Therefore, for a more perfectly acceptable love, we look to, we seek our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. Accordingly spoken of by Apostle Paul to the Romans, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” [12: 2, KJV].Christ be with you. GOD bless
