by Tom Greenslade

Created on: July 30, 2008

I Long to See You

Romans 1:11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong. (NIV)

One Sunday when Louis 19th of France and his royal party arrived at church, no one was there except Archbishop Fenelon, the court preacher. Surprised to see all the vacant seats, the King asked, "Where is everybody?" Why isn't anyone else present this morning?" The minister answered "I announced that Your Majesty would not be here today, because I wanted you to see who came to the service just to flatter you and who came to worship God." (Unknown)

That happens in the USA too:
One Christmas Eve the telephone rang in the office of the pastor of the church in Washington, D.C. that President Franklin Roosevelt attended. "Tell me Reverend," the voice inquired, "are you holding a Christmas Eve service tonight?" When the pastor answered that there would be a service that evening, the caller asked, "And do you expect President Roosevelt to attend your church tonight?" "That," said the Pastor, "I can't promise. I'm not sure about the President's plans for this evening. But I can say that we fully expect God to be in our church tonight, and we feel secure in the knowledge that His attendance will attract a reasonably large congregation." (Unknown)

Why do you come to church?

The main Bible reason - you love those people. You want to see them, be with them, and help them.
Psalm 55:14 We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company. (KJV)

The Bible tells us your attitude toward other Christians is a sign of salvation.
1Jo 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.

It used to be that church attendance was a socially traditional thing to do. Not anymore.
If current trends continue, 95 percent of Canada will be unchurched by the year 2000. Moody Monthly, January 1990
In Washington State only 4% of the population attend a church of any kind.

A little old man was seen every Sunday morning walking to church. He was deaf, so he could not hear a word of the sermon or the music of the choir, or the hymns sung by the congregation. A scoffer asked, "Why do you spend your Sundays in that church when you can't hear a word?" He replied, "I want my neighbors to know which side I'm on!"
One thing you can tell the world is, "I love those people. All week I look forward to getting back together with them. They are my friends, my family. I love to be with them."

This is why:
when I lead someone to the Lord, I

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