04.05.06

For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them. - Matthew 18:20.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. - Hebrews 10:23-25.

There is a new study that has appeared today that is religious in nature. The study claims that attending church can extend a person’s life by two or three years. There was a down play in the possibility of the spiritual side of church causing the extended life span. The study leader, Daniel Hall, a surgeon at Pittsburgh Medical Center, thinks the extended life benefit is from the social relationships of those attending church. 

Hall says, "There is something about being knit into the type of community that religious communities embody that has a way of mediating a positive health effect.”

There has been and continues to be an attack on the church. Some claim that the church era is over and there is no need to attend church any longer. I strongly disagree because the"body” of Christ, all who have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them, is still present upon this earth. Christ died for the church and during the Easter season, we should always remember this fact. Now we have a study during this Holy season of the year slamming the benefits of church except that there might be some social benefit as there would be in any other organization a person were to participate in. It is an outrage! Of course, we have grown used to outrages because almost every week a new one comes our way.

Now that you have heard my rant about the blasphemers, here are some reasons that you should attend church:

1. We have a command to do so, "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.” Hebrews 10 is still part of the canon of Scripture.

2. It is an act of worship and faith every time you assemble with other believers. When you exercise your faith in that way, our Lord says that He is going to be there with you.

3. Being in the presence of other Spirit filled believers makes the Spirit within you leap for joy. You cannot receive or experience that, except, in the presence of other believers.

4. Through the church, you can multiply the strength of your personal ministry many times by working with other like-minded believers.

5. Church has a preserving effect upon your marriage.

6. Church has a powerful effect upon children and teens that is greatly beneficial to them and their parents.

7. Through the church, you will find support during difficult times.

8. Every time you attend church, you will be blessed, and every time you miss church, you miss a blessing.

I will agree that sometimes it has been difficult to attend church. It has at times been difficult to get everyone ready to be in church. It would also have been much easier to have just stayed at home many times. However, I still attend church. I also do not regret a single time that I made the effort to attend church. My only regret about church is that I did not attend more frequently and faithfully at an earlier age. Why? Because faithful church attendance, earlier in my life, and earlier in my marriage would have changed everything for the better in my life and that of my family.

If you want to change your life for the better, attend Church! Make a commitment to be in a Bible believing church every time there is a service and you are not working or providentially hindered. You will never ever regret it!! Also, you might even live longer!