Dear MEN,                                                                                                     March 10, 2021

This Saturday March 13 at 8 AM we will hold our monthly men’s prayer breakfast.  Please make every effort to be there to fellowship and pray with the other men of our church.  You are probably wondering; why should I bother?  This is a good question and worth exploring.  Consider this passage from our January letter, Ephesians 4:11-13:  

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: 

Words like “unity”, “edifying”, “perfecting” and phrases like “the work of the ministry” are powerful reminders that the Christian life is not meant to be lived alone.  Christians need one another.  To be honest, ladies are usually quicker to acknowledge that they need fellowship and encouragement.  But while men may be slower to admit it, the fact is we also need spiritual relationships to bring us forward in the walk of faith.  Think about another familiar New Testament passage, Hebrews 10:25:

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. 

We usually quote this verse to remind us that we need to be attending church.  This is certainly true, I want to encourage all of us to be faithful in attendance, but we also need to look at the verses around verse 25, especially verse 24.

Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) :24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 

We should attend church, not as an end in itself, but as a step in obedience and to “provoke unto love and to good works.”   We need to ask ourselves, who am I provoking (encouraging) to love (God and others) and good works?  We need to ask, who am I allowing to provoke myself the same way?  Or stated differently, who do I have in my life to help me in my Christian walk? Who is my fellow soldier in the spiritual battle?  Opportunities like our monthly men’s prayer meeting and regular church attendance can help us in this quest to obey our Savior by helping other men and allowing ourselves to be helped along the path of Christian obedience.

Yours for Christ,    

Pastor John Rinehart