December 1, 2023 -- Acts 10:24 -- expectation in worship

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

 And on the following day they entered Caesarea.
Cornelius was expecting them
and had called together his relatives and close friends.
Acts 10:24 ESV

Cornelius, not yet a convert to Christianity, was a devout man who feared God, gave alms and prayed continually to God (Acts 10:2). What a beautiful description. Now he was about to receive the apostle Peter into his home. In preparation Cornelius invited his relatives and friends. He was expecting to be blessed by the word of God.

Is that how you attend church? Do you expect to be blessed by word of God? How many times the Bible seems like a dry set of instructions; a list of do this and do not do that. Cornelius was trusting God so that he was expecting those whom the Lord had brought to him would have something important to say to him.

No doubt his friends and relatives would hesitate. They already knew he was a man who could be described as a man of high principles. He gave to the work of God. He was an outsider, yet even the Jewish nation spoke well of him (Acts 10:22). His friends and relatives would know his desire to live according to the Old Testament and would perhaps have rolled their eyes at his invitation. Hesitated. Thought “we’ve been over and over this”. Yet Cornelius persisted in his invitations.

I am wondering if you have such an urgent and pressing need to invite friends and relatives to church? Do you believe God will meet with you and meet with your friends and relatives who come to church with you? Have you made church-going a habit? Just something that is part of your Sunday schedule? Dear brother and sister in Christ, attending church is a living, vital encounter with God. He calls you out of your daily routine. He calls you to remember you are not the centre of the universe—He is. Your world and riches and life do not depend on your constant busy-ness, but on Him. Worship reminds you He is God and you are utterly dependent on Him. He is the soul-refresher. When such heavenly contemplations fill us with regards to each encounter with God, we cannot help but, despite protestations, excuses, and reluctance continually invite friends and relatives to church, until they, like us, attend and experience the goodness of our God.

Our Father in heaven hallowed be Your Name. We confess how our eyes are dry and our faith is cold to the extent that we attend church with very little expectation of encountering God the Most Glorious. We confess how unlikely it is for us to invite friends and family to church or to Bible Studies, because we ourselves are so indifferent to these that we cannot imagine the people around us being interested. Spirit of the Living God, renew us in the word so that the love of God and the salvation that is ours in Christ captures our mind, our soul and our enthusiasm. As we, prompted by Your nudging and our commitments to Christ, are once again penetrated by and filled with the Word renew in us a zeal for holy living, a desire to be soul-winners, who are wise for holy service to our God. Amen.

https://youtu.be/GBLnqyc2hWo?si=9C5dAojkbS_tGCJ3 “Go Tell It On the Mountain”

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