Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired;
The nation here referenced is Israel, the Jews, God's people. They were not desired by the Gentiles because they were few in number, and their spiritual convictions set them apart from the rest. They were not desirable to God either, as their history had proven them to be prone to rebellion, backsliding, and compromise. They were no better than any other nation except that, because they had been set apart (by God) from all other nations, they were despised by those nations.
God here calls them twice to gather together. This is, I believe, the watchword of the Bible: gather, assemble. In both the Old Testament and the New Testament, the people of God come out of the world and gather together. Our word is “church,” which means “a called-out assembly.” We are not “catholic,” which means “whole or universal.” We are gathered, churched. We are assemblies of local believers, united together under a common faith, a common baptism, and a common purpose—the Great Commission.
But we’ve missed something if all we do is gather. The Hebrew word means “to forage dry branches,” or “to sift the straw.” The implication of the word is more than just a poor bunch of people huddling together; it is to search out the cause of their condition.
As believers, we are to gather. We are to encourage one another by our presence and mutual faith. But we are to do more than that when we gather. We are to search out the reason for our condition. We are to deal with our sin condition. We are to find our corruptions, so undesirable to God, and to repent of them. And then, once addressing the beam in our own eye, “go into all the world and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever [Jesus Christ] hath commanded.”
#CalledOutAssembly #GatherAndRepent #FaithfulTogether #LocalChurchUnity #GreatCommissionLife
Gathered Together: Understanding the Purpose of Church
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Dear Pastor Marvin, i have a question, this is very personal and i have a very heavy heart, i am preaching the Word of God to others but our own daughter had committed fornication that led to unwanted pregnancy how do we deal with this? How can we continue?
ReplyDeleteI apologize for taking so long to respond. I don't check for the comments as often as I should. As to your situation, I would continue preaching, but I would also take a step back amd make sure I give my daughter the time she needs to be assured of your love.
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