Hebrews
13:7-9
7 Remember
your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of
their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday and today and forever. 9 Do not be led away by diverse and
strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace,
not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.
The
common average person visiting any Pentecostal churches will have different
views and perceptions of how Jesus and His message of salvation and Good News
is being presented to them which may lead to their repeat visitation and later
progress to regular membership which is addition to such church. Therefore,
many churches give importance to the great team of workers from preparing the
venue; the program of activities before, during and after the service; the
ushering team; beautiful songs, sounds and musicalities; and great, eloquent,
engaging, and encouraging speakers regularly to add or to serve as attractions
for any visiting persons to continue his/her attendance. Indeed, these things
which could really add to the wonderful emotional experience with their
“supposed to be encounter with Jesus”, could really bring these people into the
church especially when each person really enjoyed the experience and were
treated fairly in the whole duration of his/her stay. EXPERIENCE is now the
buying trend in Gospel Preaching.
The
real genuine encounter with God is no longer measured by our genuine faith to
Jesus, brought by the transforming power of His Words and His Love. The
encounter is now being equated to experience easily when kept unnoticed. I know
that many modern churches are focusing in these kinds of fancy norms and
culture, sad to say, is increasingly becoming popular not just to the modern
wealthy churches but even to the emerging ones. Where is the genuine faith when
all these comfort starts to be taken away from us? Are we going to remain to
the community of Jesus believing fellows? Will our eyes continue to focus to
Jesus when your leaders or fellow brethren turned you off? Will you continue
believing with faith to Jesus, your Lord and Saviour, and His teachings? Will you
still remember the experiences you had and still considered a true encounter
with God?
The
author of Hebrew has given us a reminder that Jesus is the same yesterday,
today, and tomorrow; therefore, a true encounter with Him will not change nor
influenced by any additives popular to any churches. We cannot simply utter
that the worship is good because we had great musicians playing or song leader.
We cannot perceived that we had life transforming and impacting preaching with
preachers of loud entertaining and energetic voice compare to monotonous deep
sounded preacher? We cannot simply say that people is not blessed in the
informal church venue/setup with those having services in beautiful buildings.
The author wants us to know that even many years ago and many years from then,
Jesus that you will meet now must always be the same. That He will remain to be
the only Saviour of our souls and the ultimate Lamb of God who take away our
sins. That He will work with you from within you rather than outside of you.
The moment you encounter Him personally, there you will truly know His great
power through His Spirit that he rested on you. Because these works of the
Spirit will manifest to your life and produces its fruit (Gal 5:22-23).
The
author also give us a very good indication of a Christian of whom we should
imitate, He or she should be a leader and the one who speaks the word of God.
Though completely separate, it calls for the unity of speeches and actions.
Someone that leads you in faith of Christ must first indicated by his actions
in accordance with the Word of God of which he/she speaks. Imitate these kind
of Christian that validates their belief not only in words, more importantly,
in their actions. Actions that do not display self-righteousness, intelligence,
or political influence but Christlike righteousness as its core motivation.
The
Word of God is so important for every person inside the Church that Jesus has
established, that it must be spoken courageously and boldly with conviction of
the Holy Spirit. Because the author knew that as the people age and so its
practices which can lead to some changes. Teachings of Jesus, if not familiar
to anyone, can be manipulated unintentionally, unknowingly, even intentionally
(sad to say for a person’s gain). The simple guard to it is to strengthen it
with Grace, this gift of God which is Salvation. This is often neglected by
most, that God’s grace is sufficient for our salvation. Our righteousness will
follow as it was given by its Author, our Lord Jesus, who is sharing a portion
of His Spirit to work from within us. How much time we can give to know more
our Jesus? How much effort we give to experience the true encounter with God,
in your prayer, in your bible reading, in your devotion, in your mission works,
in your service to Him?
Are
we after any of the fancy foods that the church is offering? Nothing is wrong
to add those attractions such as great venue setup, talented musicians and song
leaders, encouraging lively preacher or speakers; all of these are helpful as
the generations age. But let us not forget that encounter with Jesus cannot be
replaced simply by external experience because He is always been the same of
whom we are meeting, knowing, and following; the same Jesus of yesterday,
today, and tomorrow; the source of Grace who are strengthening our faith alone!
Remember
to always read your Bible and pray to God always! God bless you all always!
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