the speakers spoke about discipleship and personal spiritual growth, but what struck me most were the sermons about Christ's church. one sentence that stuck was that: the church is not a pleasure boat, but a lifeboat to save souls. i am remnded yet again of how often we forget that and just huddle together in this safe haven without reaching out to others who are in the dark. the pastor went on to say that the church that does not reach out to the lost, is lost itself. this may sound harsh, but it is the bitter reality. afterall, Jesus himself instructed us to 'go, and make disciples'.
another sermon was about acts 2:42-47.
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
now the pastor said, 'do u realise that every sunday you are doing something of eternal consequence?' and i realised that really, sometimes we do not realise the gravity of the matter. whatever effort we are putting into every church service, is a chance to change a life, or an attender's viewpt of it, and it is impt to make every church service matter. 'cos for some ppl, u only get ONE shot. they come to try, n then u either see them come back the next wk, or u never see them again. and some of these ppl are saying.. do smth to me, jus dun leave me the way u found me before i walked through those doors.' i felt it important to convey this to church leaders, worship leaders, ushers, phamplet creators, befrienders.. because everyone CAN make a difference to other's experience at church. and its not like we're doing all the work, but i believe that as long as we really do our best, God will take care of the rest. but 1stly, we must contribute to our side of the deal.
the msg ended with a poignant sentence (bolded above), 'are ppl filled with AWE? do they emerge marvelling at the wonders of ur God?'. i guess we should all really think about that.