How can I convince you that you need to be in the house of the Lord this week? How can I convince you that what you are facing, struggling with, feeling weighed down by can all be addressed when you gather together with other people to draw near to God?
Furthermore, what can I say that will help you to realize that it is vitally important to draw near to God and discover who He is and what His will is because He is the Sovereign Lord of the universe and everyone will have to stand before Him one day, so it is important that today we get to know Him and understand what He is saying and what He expects of people?
So often it seems that people say they know that God is important. But then they follow up that sentiment with a demonstration that God is not nearly that important because work, pleasure, food, entertainment, depression, conflict, struggle, drama, etc all get our time and attention before God does. We claim that we are God-fearers, but then trifle with Him and His Word, ignore His commands and quench His Spirit. At other times we do give Him a lot of attention but only because we are going through a hard time and we think “who do I know who can help get me out of this mess” and we decide that maybe we should knock on God’s door and see perhaps if He is real, if He is able and if He cares.
Thankfully God does care. And He really thinks that you matter. And He is willing to give chance after chance and grace upon grace, even when we don’t deserve it.
So back to my original question…
How can I convince you that you need to be in God’s house, in God’s Word and with God’s people? How can I compel you to seek the Lord, talk to Him, listen to Him, surrender to Him, give Him thanks and praise and worship?
And then I realize that God is in fact attempting to do this every single day. It seems terrible to say that God is “attempting” anything, because surely God cannot fail? Which means He is not “trying” He is just doing, right?! But then we understand that somehow God allows us to choose and so even though He is working every single day to convince and compel, even for God many times His efforts are spurned, His voice is ignored and His gifts are left unopened.
So here I am reminded of a couple of things that the Bible says:
- The Holy Spirit is the One who “convicts” or “convinces” people. And He does it by reminding us of who Jesus is and what Jesus taught and by grabbing our attention (convicting us) regarding sin, righteousness and judgment. The Holy Spirit is using the Bible, the church, our conscience, and other tools to help us know what is right and what is wrong and what God’s will is. For me to try and convince you, I will have to be in agreement with the Holy Spirit and let Him do the talking and the working in and through me. I hope that I can indeed be a conduit of the Holy Spirit into your life.
- God’s love compels us. We are drawn to the Lord because of His faithful love. We are compelled to repent because of His kindness. And so I must remind you that God loves you deeply and that He has shown you tremendous kindness in spite of your sin, and hopefully because of His love and kindness you will turn away from your sin and turn fully toward God.
It hurts to see people resisting the Lord and drawing near to the world and the devil. The Bible tells us to do the exact opposite (Resist the devil and he will flee from you, draw near to God and He will draw near to you). It makes me sad to think that pastors, teachers, evangelists and Christians who are faithful to the Lord will try to do all manner of things to convince others to go to church, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, have faith in, trust, follow and obey the Lord and yet the excuses that will be given in response…It is heartbreaking to consider how God is an after-thought. I will keep trying to convince you and I hope to do it with the Holy Spirit’s anointing and the love of God and the kindness of God flowing through me. But I also hope that you will hear the voice of God and heed His call before it is too late. Please respond without any further delay so that you will no longer needlessly suffer.
What can I say to convince you to pray, read your Bible and go to church this week?
Pastor Michael Johnson 