“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.”
~ 1 Corinthians 16:13
Hi James and Ellen,
What is your favorite day of the week? Do you like Sundays? Do you like to go to church on Sundays? What happens in the church that you go to on Sundays? Is there always a lot of singing? Is there always a prayer? Is there always announcements? Is there always a sermon? Is there always a time for you to put money in something that is passed up and down the rows of benches? What do you like the most about going to church? Why do you think that your dad, ma and every other guy and gal who are in a church want to go to a church? God expects to be praised. Singing songs together in a church pleases God because songs that are sung together in a church are sung to praise God. God expects guys, gals and kids to talk with Him. Praying together in a church pleases God because talking together with Him with other guys, gals and kids in the church tells God that all the guys gals and kids have gotten together because of Him. God expects guys and gals to do things together in His name. Guys, gals and kids hearing about other church activities – besides what is taking place during a Sunday morning church service, pleases God because God expects His specially elected guys, gals and kids to live 24/7 Christ-follower lives. Guys, gals and kids who are listening to God’s word being preached and taught please God because God expects His words to be heard and understood. Guys and gals who are giving money gifts back to God please God because God is Who has given everything that every guy and gal has on planet Earth. God does not just want guys and gals to just sing to Him, pray to Him, meet together to worship Him, listen to His words being preached and taught and give back to Him some of all that He has given guy and gal, God really does expects every guy and gals to do this.
What do you think that a church service was like 2000 years ago? Do you think that 2000 years ago there were any churches? There were temples 2000 years ago. Before Jesus died, guys and gals would get together in temples on Saturdays. The guys and gals who got together in temples were God’s specially chosen guys and gals. The guys and gals who got together in temples probably had read to them the Torah – which God had passed on to Moses for His especially chosen guys and gal to always to live their lives by. Your grandpaa does not know if God’s specially chosen guys and gals prayed together. Your grandpaa does know that there were choirs that sang when David was alive that were made up of guys and maybe gals who were from the Levi tribal clan. Your grandpaa also does know that when after Jesus died, then arose from the dead and then ascended into heaven, God’s specially elected guys and gals began to meet together weekly on Sundays versus meeting together weekly on Saturdays. Sundays are the first days of each week. When God finished His creation on planet Earth, God expected every guy and gal to rest on the seventh day – or the last day of the week, just as He rested. Because the first day of the week – Sunday, was the day when Jesus arose from the dead, Sundays became the designated day to celebrate what Jesus had done to bring hope to guys, gals and kids who lived, are living and will live on planet Earth. Per a letter that Paul sent to the Christ-followers who were living in Corinth – in 1 Corinthians 16, the first day of the week – or Sundays, was the day that God’s specially elected guys and gals were to set aside a portion of their earnings. God’s specially elected guys and gals who had become Christ-followers in Corinth wanted to help God’s specially elected guys and gals who were Christ-followers in Jerusalem by sending them a money gift. God’s specially elected Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in Jerusalem were really hurting at this time. The area where Jerusalem was located was suffering through a very serious famine. Jerusalem was also where the first Christ-follower communities of God’s specially elected guys and gals lived. These Christ-follower guys and gals who lived in Jerusalem were not liked by other guys and gals even to the point where these other guys and gals were persecuting and killing Christ-followers.
After your grandmaa, grandpaa, dad and Aunt Lynn moved in August of 1974 from Aberdeen, South Dakota to Chicago so that your grandpaa could begin studying at Moody Bible Institute, your grandmaa, grandpaa, dad and Aunt Lynn began to attend the Northwest Christian & Missionary Alliance Church. During one evening service at the Northwest Christian & Missionary Alliance Church, a World Vision film was included in the service. The film showed kids who were really hurting who were living in different parts on planet Earth. After the film had ended, the guys and gals in the church were asked to give money gifts to help these hurting kids. There was just a little over twenty-five dollars left in the checking account that your grandmaa and grandpaa had. After asking your grandmaa what to do, your grandpaa wrote a check for twenty-five dollars to help the hurting kids. After the church service ended and as your grandpaa was leaving the church, one of the church elders – as your grandpaa was walking past him, slipped an envelope into your grandpaa’s suitcoat pocket. When your grandpaa got outside the church, your grandpaa took the envelope out of his pocket. There was fifty dollars in cash in the envelope. When your grandmaa and grandpaa went to a church service in Bolivia and when something was passed up and down the rows of benches for an offering, every guy, gal and kid would give something. Even the littlest kids had their dads and mas give them something for them to put in what was being passed by them. How does God want His specially elected guys and gals to do? Paul scribed in verse 13, “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.” God expects His specially elected guys, gals and kids who have become Christ-followers to trust in Him for His help.
1 Corinthians 16 (266)