15th August 2021
CHURCH LATENESS
David Abankwah
READ: Acts 5:21; Luke 21:38
Now EARLY IN THE MORNING He came again into the TEMPLE, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.
-John 8:2 | NKJV
God is a God of times and seasons. When He created the universe, He used time to do it. He could have decided to neglect time but because He wanted to leave us an exemplary life to follow, He used six days to create and one day to rest. That is time! He went on to create lights in the expanse of the firmament to give us signs, seasons, days, and years. And that is time! God doesn’t joke with time at all and as believers, we have to redeem our time and flow accordingly as God does, otherwise, we will lose the time we could have had an encounter with Him while we still live. The five foolish virgins couldn’t go to heaven because of lateness (Matthew 25:10-12).
I once heard a story about a certain guy who had a vision about those who usually came to the church he was going lately. This guy usually go to church early and saw this vision. In that vision, he saw a certain man with very beautiful children before the pulpit. He asked of his mission and he said, he was sent by God to give the children to the believers who had been praying for fertility but when he came, they were not around on time. So, he was returning the children to the Lord until further notice. He begged the man to wait a little while but he said, it was not possible to do that, because God uses time to do everything He does. Imagine Jesus had come to take His children that time.
Jesus Christ who is the Son of God didn’t go to church late. There was nowhere in the Bible that recorded that Jesus Christ was late for church meetings. In John 8:2 we saw that He went to church very early in the morning before the people could gather around Him. Meaning, He went to church earlier than the church members. Usually, it was the church members who could have come earlier than Jesus Christ, rather, He lived an exemplary life that, Pastors have to arrive in church earlier than the church members! If God (Jesus) often goes to church earlier than the church members, Pastors who are always late to church without any work of God, should be careful.
God records the attendants of people who go to church before time and does not recognise those who are late. Lateness to church means no church at all! There are some people who will be shocked in the judgement day that, they never went to church just because they were always late for church meetings. We respect the duration of our visas, flight, school, appointments, health, finances, etcetera but when it comes to the salvation of our souls, many people joke with their time. Salvation is all about time. That’s why the Bible says, remember the Lord in the days of your youth. You have to serve the Lord on time. If it elapses (after physical death) you can’t do that anymore.
•| Prayer Diary |•
¹Lift up prayers for deliverance from procrastination that influences you to attend church meetings late. ²Lift up prayers for conformity and patience to do overtime concerning the work of God. ³Lift up prayers to be very productive in the later stages of everything you find yourself in especially in terms of Godliness and ministry. ⁴Lift up prayers for the right attitude of being earlier than the usual time concerning things that pertain to life in the name of Jesus Christ.
Quote
“Lateness to church is a sin many believers don’t know. Everyone who is late to enter into the Kingdom of God will be denied entry”
One-Year Bible Reading Plan
Jeremiah Chapters 33-37
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© 2021 David Abankwah
David Abankwah 