Called to a Sacred Assembly

“Let us be glad, rejoice, and give Him glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has prepared herself.  She was permitted to wear fine linen, bright and pure.  For the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints.”  Revelation 19:7-8

Last night our Vision Team met to pray and discuss how God would ask us to lead in these challenging days for our nation and for River’s Edge.  The theme of everything we shared centered around our personal need for spiritual healing, restoration, repentance, and renewal.  We often speak of these things but rarely do we follow through and seek the Lord with all our hearts.  We have great needs that can only be supplied by a great God!  In the light of this, the Vision Team is calling for our church family to have a “Sacred Assembly” of worship and repentance.  Sacred Assemblies have always been special times when God’s people recognized the urgency of the season to repent and be right with the Lord.  These assemblies were practiced in ancient Israel among the people of God and are evident throughout the New Testament period among Christians seeking to serve God with all their hearts.  We are asking that all the members of River’s Edge Church engage in a time of seeking God.  Beginning today, September 29^th, I will be writing devotionals to prepare us for our 7^th Anniversary Sunday Celebration on October 9, 2011.  This will be our day of Sacred Assembly.  It is so significant that we are moving towards this “new beginning” with the Lord on our 7^th anniversary.  The number 7 in the Bible always speaks of completeness and striving for perfection in God.  Obviously, none of us are perfect or we would have no need of repentance and restoration.  But our Lord is perfect in every way!  He desires to live in us and work through us.  He is calling us to be right in spirit with Him and with one another.  I am imploring you as your pastor to seek God in this next week and do not look on this time as “business as usual”.  God wants to do a great work among us and we are the only ones standing in His way!  In our Sacred Assembly, we want to worship the Lord, confess our sins, testify to the miracles of the Lord, renew our Church Covenant, and come clean and pure to the Lord’s Table for Holy Communion.  God is speaking to us, to all of us, and we must take the time to listen.  Can I ask you to do something?  Not only take each of the devotionals to heart and personally apply them to your life, but please be in attendance on Sunday, October 9, 2011 during worship time at 10:45 am.  Don’t let anything hinder you or get in your way.  Don’t let some lame excuse keep you from attending.  Please come, please share, please pray, and please be ready to obey the Lord.  He wants to use River’s Edge in a mighty way for His glory.

The Scripture above speaks of the marriage supper of the Lamb when all God’s people are gathered to rejoice in Jesus.  The prerequisite for attendance at the marriage supper is the preparation of God’s church (the bride).  This preparation involves our repentance of sin and our willingness to serve in the righteous acts of God.  My beloved River’s Edge family, we need to be prepared!  Life is not about me or you, life is about our Awesome God.  We are His servants and His people who tell the world what we believe about our God by what we say and how we act.  All of us are filled with unrighteous actions that we need to repent of.  Repentance just means turning away from our sin and our self and turning back toward God.  I will begin with me….repenting of any unrighteous attitudes that may contain anger or an unforgiving spirit.  What about you?  Is there someone you need to forgive?  Does someone need to forgive you?  Let God into your heart to lead you in these next few days.  We are called to a Sacred Assembly of the Lord’s People!  Let’s praise and honor Him by what we do this next week!

A Prayer for Today:
Wonderful God, I love You and praise You for Your faithfulness to me and to River’s Edge Church.  Lord, You are all powerful and Almighty!  You can do anything.  You can cleanse us and make us whole.  You can cause all things to become new through Your Son Jesus!  “And You saw me when You took a crown of thorns, Your blood washed over me.  And You loved me through the nails that You bore.  Your blood washes over me.  Bless the Lord always!  Bless His Holy Name!” (HillSong Church Music).  Thank You, God for the miracles You are going to provide.  We all love You, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

You are all so precious to me and I love you!
Pastor Stephen

Worthless Things

“Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way.” Psalm 119:37

Do you find yourself focusing time and energy on “worthless things” or trivial pursuits?  There was a game that came out in the 1980’s called “Trivial Pursuit.”  It was filled with worthless facts and a challenge for the players to know them.  Worthless things ought to be left to a game and not real life!  I confess, I can become caught up worrying about things I can’t change or in trying to solve problems with my own creative thinking rather than seeking God’s wisdom.  Too often our attention strays from what matters in life to those things that have no eternal significance, and that drain all the spiritual and emotional energy we have.  The psalmist reminds us of God’s way.  What is God’s way?  Looking to Him for answers rather than trying to solve things in life on our own.  When we seek the Lord, His answers revive us, cleanse us, and prepare us.  God desires to walk with us and lead us in His way.

The question for today is:  Are you allowing God to walk with you and lead you in His way or are you wasting your time focusing on worthless things?

“Lord, please turn my eyes away from worthless things today.  I want to concentrate on Your truth, Your way, and Your life.  I know my life has meaning because You made me and You desire me to experience Your love.  Revive me today, dear God and help me stay on the right path with You!  In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you all,
Pastor Stephen