Today, response is shared on the benefits of church for young people through regular attendance and responsible membership. In the Scriptures, the church is spoken of as a bride and consort to the Savior, because the church is to be a living presence whose character, nature, and substance are compatible with that of Jesus Christ. Included are such aspects of priesthood as commitment, discernment, governance, humility, love, sacred knowledge, personness, eternal purpose, purity, and willingness to “give birth” to an eternal creation. Early disciples of Jesus and those led by his apostles gathered together as “the church” within the homes and households of baptized members. Ordinances and sacred practices were continued such as foot-washing, observing Sabbath rest, and sharing the Lord’s Supper. Often the youth are eager to have a personal relationship with the Lord that is secret and apart from that with family or with “the brethren.” Lacking maturity and prophetic vision, what they display and express may be little more than desire for control, independence, and separation from the primary mechanism provided by GOD for their highest spiritual development. Sinners are to learn what it means to be joint-heirs with the Lord by serving and sharing within a full community of faith. Those who break-off fellowship and study within the body are like a knight who rushes into battle without a weapon. Such young believers frequently leave before being sent, and must encounter the pressures and problems of adulthood having only the tools from their own childhood. A fighter at “Yahoo! Answers” using the ID “Anonymous” (no profile information shared) posted the following:
Am I not a good Christian because I don't go to church?
I don't like any churches in my new town ever since moving...they're all focused on money and "events" and not prayer.
Can I have a holy sacrament in my home and serve my faith there?
THE GOLDEN ARROW: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 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. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; (Romans 12: 1-10, King James Version, KJV)
THE DOUBLE DAGGER: Church Attendance and Inheritance (09/11/2016); Can A Church Not Be "Religious"? (07/27/2016); Going To The Cross? (05/25/2016); Skipping Church A Sin? (11/17/2015); A Correct Church? (10/05/2015); Church Attendance for Prayer? (07/20/2015); Denying Mutual Need? (06/25/2015)
THE BATTLE CRY: Two selections from the music ministry are recommended. The first piece became one of my favorites immediately; however, I disliked the second, and felt it did not deserve so much attention after hearing it played repeatedly on radio. Finally, I listened to the lyrics, and was struck by the simplicity and power I heard in one of its lines. In that instant, I had to acknowledge the high value of the work as prophecy to all the church. Readers are encouraged to hear THE HERALDS, We Are An Offering, from their 1987 album “Honor The Lord.” No less worthy is Bishop Hezekiah Walker and the Love Fellowship Choir, I Need You To Survive, from the 2007 album, The Essential Hezekiah Walker. The works are available online as MP3 and YouTube video files.
“Anonymous”, how “good” a believer (i.e., effective as one who wins souls; fruitful; productive) a sinner becomes appears in divine judgment as a matter of rewards, rather than their redemption and salvation that can be carried out only by divinity. A person’s home always is to be a center and hub for their continual response to the ministry of Jesus Christ particularly for fasting, meditation, praise, prayer, and study. When becoming a member of a community of faith, Christian believers give their word (we say, pledge their honor) and promise to be present in worship services and other activities (e.g., missions, outreach, socials, study); provide necessary financial resources to maintain good works and ongoing programs as well as cleanliness and health within the place of assembly; show respect to GOD and all others through the works of salvation (e.g., intercessory prayer, observing sacraments, spreading the gospel); and willingly cooperate with leaders within the congregation who may be clergy and those otherwise appointed to give comfort, guidance and instruction (e.g., mothers of the church; the church Board; the choir director and prophets of the music ministry). While these are the very duties and responsibilities parents are hoping to demonstrate, instill, and require from their children by attending church together as a family, many young people leave the church before they truly grasp the full meaning of being held accountable, commitment, interdependence, love, mutual support, sacrifice, and unselfish service. More than this, many leave the church before they have received the necessary anointing that is given only by GOD (the imparted, indwelling Spirit) that enables genuine sacred knowledge, and adult spirituality. Being restricted to fellowship with those outside the body of Christ, believers must be anchored firmly in their own experiences and understandings from the Holy. Consider again the following cautions and counsels to both young people and the many congregations:
(1.) Jeremiah 5: 7, King James Version (KJV): 7 How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
(2.) Hebrews 10: 35-37, KJV: 35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. 36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
(3.) 1st Corinthians 15: 58, KJV: 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
There is far more to be said, correctly applied, and spiritually apprehended. (For example, (4.) Revelation 3: 14-19, KJV: 14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.) Even so, I trust this fragment will be useful. Be it unto you according to your faith.
THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC
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