By: Bill Crews

Anyone who reads through the book of Acts learns that the first century Christians accepted the place and importance of assembling with their brethren who, with them, constituted a local church.  God knew how difficult it would be for one to remain a Christian, to grow as a Christian, without the association and help of other Christians.  It is He who conceived the local church and who intended for Christians to regularly assemble together, to worship and to work together, to teach and be taught, to exhort and to be exhorted, to edify and to be edified.  Throughout the book of Acts we find churches gathering together, obviously every first day of the week, but sometimes even daily.  In the book of Hebrews we find this commandment: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some {is}; but exhorting {one another}---Hebrews 10:25.  Please read the context of this passage (Hebrews 10:19-31), and tell me that assembling isn’t important.

Nearly every Christian who has forsaken the Lord and gone back in to the way of the world has begun the process by missing some of the assemblies of the local church.  And every time we miss, we miss out on something important, something helpful, something that we really need.  Some miss because they are unable to attend, but unless they are really applying themselves through consistent prayer and diligent study of God’s word, trying to be an example and a teacher of the gospel, they become weaker with the passing of time.  The greatest tragedy of all is that some miss because they do not want to attend. 

Something is wrong with their attitude.  I cannot imagine anyone who professes to love the Lord and to have a desire to go to heaven not wanting to be with other Christians in such spiritual activities as singing praises to God, praying together unto our heavenly Father, learning more of God’s word and partaking of the memorial supper honoring the Savior who died for us.  Why would they not want to be present?  What better things do they have to do?  Have they become lukewarm?  Revelation 3:15-16 says, “I know they works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth”  Have they left their first love and ceased to do their first works?  Again Revelation2:4-5 says, “Nevertheless I have {somewhat} against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.  Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”  I fear that such Christians are slowly dying, and we need to be concerned enough to grieve for them, to pray for them, and to try to reach them --- before it is forever to late.

How do you show the Lord how much you love him?