“…and let us not hold aloof from our church
meetings as some do. Let us do all we can to help one another’s
faith and this the more earnestly as we see the final day drawing
ever near’
(Hebrews 10:25 by J.B.Philips).
If a ‘society’ or an ‘association’ is divided, they still remain a
society and an association in character. Their nature and makeup
remains unaffected by any division. However, one cannot divide a
body without destroying it. So it is with the Body of Christ, the
Church. If the Body of Christ is divided, it will lose its basic,
essential, quality and character because it is an organic entity.
Division will rob it of its basic character of oneness. To this
contribute all the letters of Paul. It has to find an expression
upon the earth. My prayer is that as you read this, you may
apprehend the true meaning of ‘the gathering of the saints’. We have
seen who the participants of these ‘gatherings’ unto the Lord are,
but now we need to see that the ‘gatherings’ must also be an
expression of the Body of Christ. Today, the Lord desires to find
such gatherings in different localities, all over the world.
Many Christians live without having any real working fellowship with
other believers. Beloved, this Christian life is not merely a matter
of individuals attaining maturity. It is true that we received the
Lord as individuals and that as individuals we were baptized, but
the Lord is looking for something more than so many independent
individuals. He is looking for a corporate expression of His work in
the earth, a corporate company of people who are living and working
in harmony and relationship to one another. This is what the Spirit
is working out in these days. The real emphasis here is for a
‘working relationship’, or as the amplified Bible puts it, ‘for
admonishing, for warning, for encouraging one another’.
The present world scenario and the recent turn of global events have
fueled many wild speculations about the end times. Preachers are
emphasizing the wrong things through their teachings and scriptural
interpretations. I feel that their teachings, Biblical
interpretations have insulated God’s people from feeling the need
for a true ‘gathering unto the Lord’, for gathering as a Body and
for the establishment of a living relationship with one another.
This kind of working fellowship is much more than the fellowship
which some talk of, such as, ‘letter-fellowship’,
‘breakfast-fellowship’, etc. It is the physical gathering of the
saints with a deep spiritual relationship with one another. It is
the assembling of the saints. The true remnant of God is becoming
more and more conscious of their absolute need for such true
fellowship and gathering.
God’s remnant in this hour is becoming increasingly cognizant of the
need to have and maintain the right quality of true gatherings unto
the Lord. This is something that will increase as we near the end of
this age. Every member of the remnant company of saints, will surely
become increasingly aware of the need to gather together with saints
in the local church. At the same time, the enemy will make many
sinister efforts to keep them from the gathering together, by
exerting pressure from many different directions – pressures from
the job, pressures from the family and pressures from the confused
church world. The enemy’s efforts will be aimed at preventing you
and your family, from gathering together.
It is not unusual to hear a young believers say, “Just when I was
about to leave the office, for the gathering of the saints, my boss
called me to deal with some urgent matter” or “a client met me just
as I was about to leave.” Problems do not end there. Even if one is
able to make it to the gatherings of saints in time, one will find
that many other things interfere and affect ones concentration.
Umpteen thoughts cloud the mind, thus keeping one in bondage.
O, have you not experienced the manner in which the remembrance of a
thousand and one things flood your mind, at the precise time you
gather together to worship the Lord? Thoughts, which had not
bothered you all day, suddenly seem to arise and confound or confuse
the mind! Do you truly realize what you are up against when you want
to be in a place where the saints gather together?
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