"Let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near." (Hebrews 10:25 NLT)
I know how many of you love to listen to Leon and the Faith Riders Band as they play and sing their outstanding praise and worship music. I know you get spiritually fed when Pastor Ray Boone brings his truly inspiring messages.
So where are you? You watch on the internet. You claim to be a Christian so why don't you have your butt in a seat at church?
I know that we have a lot of illness going around the entire country. The flu has hit in epidemic proportions this year. We have people who are sitting in hospitals, or homes, with their sick and ill loved ones. Yes, we understand. Occasionally we have to work or have commitments we absolutely must attend and we just can't make it to church. If we truly love God and our brothers and sisters, we will miss every moment we can't be with them.
I had my excuses. For years I told myself that I was done with Church because the people were hypocritical. They were judgmental and critical of anyone not exactly like they were. But I learned. People make up the church. People make mistakes. We all have our problems. Show me that one who has never been critical, judgmental, or hypocritical at some time during their lives on this earth.
Psalms 133:1 tells us, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity."
If we truly love God then we will love our brothers and sisters in the Lord. We want to be with them. You don't get the same fellowship and understanding if you sit in front of your computer screen or TV and watch church. Try it. There is an entirely different experience sitting in a seat at church. We want to be together! We go to church together, yes, but then we still don't want to lose that fellowship, that friendship and comradery as evidenced by the things we do outside of the church walls. We may head off to lunch after church together. We may meet before church for breakfast. We do things such as take trips together, go to different events. As the name Faith Riders implies we have several in the congregation who ride motorcycles. We love to go for rides together. Sometimes they are just short rides around town. Other times we may go on overnight trips or just a long peaceful Saturday ride just to be together.
By attending church we become a part of something bigger than us. We feel the spirituality as we walk into the church. We learn and we love. We need God in our lives. You need God in your life.
Statistics have shown that if you miss church for just one month there is a 50-50 chance you won't return for a year. We have seen that happen as some people started skipping a week here and there and then a couple of weeks, then we may or may not see them over the next month or over the next several months. It is like anything we do in life. As we start neglecting anything it becomes easier and easier to put it off. Sometimes forgetting about it altogether. We definitely don't need to forget our spiritual being.
We have seen some people walk away from the church over the past several years and if they left and continued with another church I can respect that. If they are happy, then we are happy for them. Each person has to find his or her own way. If someone left and did not continue in a church, please come back, if not to us, then somewhere. Please don't neglect God. He is a forgiving God but, we should always prioritize God.
We lose those we love. I lost my father years ago to cancer. My mother passed away several years ago. I loved my wife's mother and father as my own. Both are gone now. I lost a brother a few years ago. I didn't think he could ever be replaced. I lost my sister a few years ago. There is, and always will be, a place in my heart for each of them. My memories will keep them in my heart forever. I never thought I could fill that void and I didn't. I have been adopted into a new, and loving, family, my church. They have become mother, father, brother, and sister. They are my aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews. They are my family. They are not an extended family. They are close family. I love each and every one of them. A new family has taken me in.
Do you have that piece of your heart missing? Have you lost family and friends you thought could never be replaced? We won't try to take their place in your heart. We will show you that your heart has a capacity for love that you never knew existed.
We will show you what family can be and God will show you he is the father you always wanted.
If you have a church you're happy with, great. If you don't and you want to see what it's like to have a loving family, come see us.
We love you all.
