As you may have noticed, “Monday Minutes” has been AWOL for a few weeks. I apologize for the absence, but I’ve been traveling a lot, and unable to keep up with the weekly devotion. However, we are back as of today! And hopefully, we won’t be absent again anytime soon.
I want to reflect for a moment today. Over the past twelve years, Zion Primitive Baptist Church has experienced a great outpouring of blessings from the Lord. We have grown from a single member (Sis. Lorene Deason) in August 2011 to over fifty members today. We have gone from meeting six times per year (3rd Sunday of every other month) to meeting twice on Sunday, and on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. We have built a new building for our weekly worship, and renovated the old building into a fellowship hall/lunchroom. We have paved our parking lot, and expanded our cemetery.
Even more importantly, we have been blessed with visitors who come and hear the message of God’s sovereign grace, who otherwise might never hear the glorious message of gospel truth! Recently, we experienced the glorious event of the re-constitution of a local Independent Baptist church into a Primitive Baptist Church. That church is a thriving congregation, with around 30-40 people regularly in attendance.
Having experienced all of these blessings, what should our reaction be? Someone might say, “Surely it is time to sit down, and rest upon the past blessings while being at ease today!” Would that be appropriate for us here at Zion Church? The answer is a resounding “NO!”
My dear friends, there is no room for rest in the kingdom of God! In Phillipians 2:25, Paul calls Epaphroditus his “brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier.” This demonstrates to us that we are not only brothers and sisters in Christ, but also fellow laborers and fellow soldiers – i.e., workers in the kingdom of God!
Amos 6:1 warns us, “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!” Amos is describing a situation where the people of God (Zion) are “at ease” in the Kingdom; instead of working, they are resting, and placing their trust in the things of the world (Samaria). Brethren and Sisters, we cannot afford to be at ease in Zion in this way! You see, my friends, there is no place for complacency in the Lord’s church. We must continue to grow in grace, or we will find ourselves “groaning in disgrace” (I would like to claim authorship of this saying, but I first heard this saying from Eld. Sonny Pyles!).
So today I want to encourage each of us to continue laboring diligently in the Kingdom of God. We must continue to share the testimony that we have about the mercies of God with all those we meet. We must continue to study the Scriptures to show ourselves approved unto God, workmen that need not to be ashamed, but rather able to rightly divide the word of truth!
And as we continue to labor in the kingdom of God, let us take heed to the last written words of Peter, who was very familiar with the need to be diligent in our Christian walk: Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. 2 Peter 3:17-18
May the Lord bless you is my prayer.
Elder Chris McCool, Pastor