Why Should I Go To Church Regularly?

Actually, although many people might ask this question, we don’t technically “go to church”.  The church is not the building or an event we attend on Sundays.  Followers of Jesus ARE the church.  The word translated into the English word “church” is ekklesia (in the Greek) and it means “congregation”, “assembly” or “group of people gathered together”.  Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18).  Jesus is building his (ekklesia) “gathered group of people” who intentionally gather in his name to honor him.  Do you want to be built up in Jesus?  Jesus said,  “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:20).  What does this mean?  There is something supernatural taking place in the intentional gathering of people in the Name of Jesus.  Jesus is there.  His Spirit is at work.  God is honored in the worship, in the offering of ourselves as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2).  We then through the presence of Jesus together offer to God the sacrifice of praise which is the fruit of our lips. (Hebrews 13:15)  As our worship goes up his presence and blessings come down.  God inhabits our praises.  His powerful presence then builds up the church, and we grow.  

John 20:21 (NIV)  Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 

The church is the church gathered and the church sent!  We gather.  We are equipped, filled, refreshed, and trained in our gatherings for the purpose of being the church to the world wherever we are sent.  We each have a mission.  Like a team on a football field of our mission, we train and gather in huddles, then get on the field and run plays.  We are the church 24/7 wherever we are.  But we perform very poorly without gathering for training practices.  We cannot afford missing these equipping and empowering gatherings.  Those who fail to gather together (the very definition of church) soon become like a coal that has fallen out of the fireplace.  In the fireplace the coal was red hot among the other coals, but apart from the warming heat of the gathered church the isolated coal cools and loses is glow.  Your passion fades and you become vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy.  Don’t do life alone.  Jesus says we are “the light of the world”  (Matthew 5:14-15).  We must continue to meet together to encourage one another and help each other to follow in the steps of Jesus.

Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV) And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.