Saturday 23rd January 2021
A beautiful Saturday to you in the name of Jesus.
We trust God, you are beginning to practice the spiritual disciplines. We've been talking about investing in our heavenly account and we're talking about the place of discipline, we have spoken about inward discipline and outward discipline, and today we will be discussing the corporate discipline.
The corporate discipline are the disciplines that bring believers closer together in fellowship with one another and to God, it helps us develop a sense of community. Our Christian faith is about family, so it's about fellowship, is about living together with one another peacefully and we have four practices under this.
The first one is Confession.
Why do you make confession?
It’s important that we ae at peace with God and with one another and confessing our wrongs both to God and to one one another is one way to do that.
James 5:16 (NLT) 16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
From this scripture, we can see the cleansing and healing power of confession. When we confess our sins to one another, it brings peace, wholeness and healing to our life. And in the next part of the verse says the earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power. Why? When there is no sin between us and no sin with God, it is easy for prayer to get answered.
The second one is Worship and what do we mean by worship?
In Acts of Apostles 2: 42-47 gives an idea of what makes up our worship. When we see what the apostles practiced in the early church, praying together, study together, communion, breaking bread, sharing together and doing ministry together all in submission to God, that's what worship is all about. That whole practice of devotion to God is what worship means.
The next one is Guidance.
Guidance can be from God and amongst ourselves. The Bible says in Proverb, “Iron sharpens iron.” There is guidance available when we are together fellowshipping in love, somebody is wiser and some insight, and somebody else doesn't have. We can lean on each other's strength so that we can become better. Always remember, there's guidance in community.
And the final one is Celebration.
The bible says in Acts 2:46 (MSG)
They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful
We can see how they practiced the daily discipline of worship in the temple, followed by meals at home, every meal was in an atmosphere of celebration and joy. They were a joyful people. There should be nothing like sad believers , in reality. Yes, we can have brief periods of sadness, but we should not always be sad as believers. God has done everything for us to live in joy. He wants us to live a life to be full of joy and full of celebration.
So in conclusion, let us remember again Apostle Paul’s admonition.
Cultivate these things. Immerse yourself in them. The people will all see you mature right before their eyes!
May God give us the grace to practice these things in Jesus name.
