Driving into the church car park on Easter Sunday morning and seeing a sign on the front door of the church that said, ‘We Are Closed’ sent a sudden sadness over me. It was the first time I had been at church since the restrictions were put in place.

I was there because I had a ‘job’ to do…give out the communion to those there facilitating the live stream. I felt so emotionally overwhelmed standing inside the empty sanctuary that is usually buzzing with people, children and the sound of joy!

But this is how it is in 2020 for now… having ‘church’ at home.

Thankfully, just because the doors of the church are shut, the work of God has not ceased! Bible studies, baptisms, prayer meetings and Konnect groups are still happening via online!

We are the church. We are the body of Christ. If you consider our physical bodies, if we were to cut one of our arms off and put it to the side, we would long for it…wouldn’t we? It is there but we can’t use it. That’s the best way I can describe how it feels at the moment. You and I are part of the body of Christ…and the body is not able to physically be together…and that is what I and I am sure many of you, long for. Our brothers and sisters in Christ!

During my prayer time, I believe the Lord gave me this thought to share. In Matthew 25, we have the story of the ten virgins. We know that five of them were wise and five were foolish. Here are some points to consider:

At some point, the foolish virgins did have oil….
The foolish virgins were not diligent in ensuring their lamps had oil…
All the virgins were unaware of when the bridegroom was going to come. They just knew that at some point, He would…

We know that Jesus promised that He will return for His bride, the church. We are admonished to pay attention to the signs of the times…because that means it is getting closer. Watch and pray!

I felt overcome with grief when I realised that when the second coming of Christ occurs and the church is taken, there will be those who once did know God and had walked away, that would understand what had taken place. There would also be those who know God but are not spiritually ready for His return.

I can imagine them coming to the church, trying to get in and realising that the doors are locked. There is no one there.

Even if I want to attend a service at church, at present, that is not possible due to the restrictions in place. That is very sad. But, there is hope because at some point in the coming months, that will change! Restrictions will be lifted.

But, what about after Jesus has returned for His bride? How devastating it would be to know I had missed the rapture? Coming to the church building and not able to get in…the doors are locked…the church is gone?

If you are reading this today, then God has given you an opportunity to make sure you have oil in your lamp. He has given you the opportunity to repent if you need to. Be baptised in Jesus name if you haven’t had your sins washed away. To be filled with His Spirit if you have not received the Holy Ghost evidenced by speaking in tongues.

I know many of us cannot wait until we are able to be together and worship and praise God together! If this pandemic hasn’t taught us anything else, it has taught us the value and honour it is to have the opportunity to be in God’s house, with God’s people…to feel His presence in the House!

Be wise! Keep oil in your lamp! Today is the day of salvation!

This is a blog post from Jena Grech, Assistant Pastor of the POS

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

What an exciting time at the Pentecostals of Sydney as we launched our 2018 theme; ‘Go Make’ and reaffirmed our vision and values. The importance of this task can not be understated since it is very easy to become distracted and deviate from the purpose and objective for the very existence of the church. It is alarming to see the level of activity in nominal Christianity and yet often still missing the most crucial part of Church.

Churches abound in good works, with giving to the needy, providing material relief and a myriad of services. While these deeds are important and occupy a part in the ministry, the unfortunate reality is that it’s often done at the expense of what Jesus called the Church to primarily do and prioritise. That is; the preaching of the good news of salvation and the discipleship of all nations to the observance of the Word.

At the other end of the spectrum, many churches have such a strong desire to reach the masses, which is to be commended, but in their great burden for this cause, they have forsaken doctrinal integrity. The demands that the Gospel places on the disciples of Jesus are left out and instead a kind of Christianity Lite is presented. This hyper grace teaching all but diminishes the need for repentance (which is an act of personal commitment and change - 2 Peter 3:9), confession (Rom 10:10), baptism in Jesus name for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16, Mark 16:16), receiving the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues (Acts 2:38, Rom 8:9) and remaining faithful in the face of trial and temptation (Mark 10:22). All of these are essential for salvation in response to the grace of God. It is His grace that makes it possible at all that we have the opportunity to make these personal decisions. I am convinced that this can only be accomplished through the method that Jesus taught and exemplified; Discipleship.

It is incumbent upon the Church to focus on our purpose and primary objective and that is; to reach as many people as we can, with the teaching of Christ. This is in fact, the great commission that Jesus committed to the Church - Matthew 28:19-20:

Make Disciples of all nations, Baptise them, Teach them to observe all things that I have commanded you.

This is what ‘Discipleship’ means.

So this year, let’s look at our habits, practices, church operations and ministry, and see whether what we are doing on a regular basis is fulfilling this model that Jesus gave to bring salvation to the world through the means of discipleship.

Go……Make……Disciples