The evolution of Sunday night church

After I got saved, I started to attend church regularly, meaning Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night.   As I got more active in the church,  it became Bus ministry, Sunday school, Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night.  Oh, did I mention choir practices, youth and adult choirs and also the church radio program.   So the day, Sunday, started Sunday morning 8:00am for Bus ministry,  Sunday school at 10:00am, Sunday morning worship 11:00am, of course take the kids home, grab lunch, go to the radio station at 3:00pm or Convalescent  Home meeting,  then Youth choir practice at 4:45pm, Adult choir practice at 5:45pm, of course prayer rooms at 6:45 then Sunday evening church at 7:00.  WOW,  it does sound like a lot, but we were young and younger.  ( I kind of miss it now )  And for me, I had  a 40 hour week job and nightly Bible College .  That was the way it was through much of the 1980s unitl I got married in 1987. (again, I say wow !!)  I went to nightly Bible College, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday night.  No wonder why some concern adults would say to me when do you find time to rest?? !!

In the middle of ALL those services and while serving Him, we had our Sunday night church.  The Best service of the week !!  At least for us it was, We had Great singing, shouting and preaching.  Some say now, it was because we all came together on Sunday night, all the workers, Bus and children.    All I know is that we had great meetings on our Sunday night services.  And I can honestly say, it was unique and has been never been repeated or re-created.  

Interestingly, for me, when my wife and I went into the ministry, we had this idea in our minds.  And at the first church I pastor, we found that Sunday night was the least attended and the least spiritual of ALL of our services.  I really did not understand it.   But then, that’s when an older wiser pastor told me a big lesson.  And it was that each church are different.  But it troubled me for a long time.  How could it be that way, for we had many great Sunday night services?  But even at our home church, there was a move evolve.   We had grown and we had to build.  We moved to our new location and then,  I guess we did loose, little by little the sweetness of the Sunday night service.   

Another evolution of the Sunday night service was the time change, I chuckle and smile about it now, but I can remember when Sunday night church started at 7:30pm, then it was change to 7:00pm, 6:30 in some places then 6:00pm, where it stayed for  a long time,  through the 1990s, now we hear of churches starting at 4:00 and 5:00pm. (well, to each his own I say or whatever works for you)  :-)

 

Well, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as some have.   Gather yourself together to teach and learn about the ways of the Lord.  We need the fellowship of the saints, the Apostle Paul did and we should too.

God bless you friend, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved.

RevDanSam

Thankful in 2013

Psalm 92

 It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High:

² To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,
³ Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.
⁴ For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands.

I am very Thankful today for the Lord. He has done so much for me and I cannot praise Him enough. A member of our church made a statement at our offering prayer time that give me " food for thought"  He said the commercial world has just about forgotten about Thanksgiving.  We barley leave Halloween and Christmas is already thrown in our face.  It's almost like Thanksgiving is over looked.  So my fellow church encouraged us on that not to forget about Thanksgiving. 

And so it is in the world's way and wisdom.  Many do forget to be thankful and to even say a friendly thank you to others and in many situations.  It is interesting how a perception becomes a mind thought or even a method of life.  I think there are many worldly thoughts and teachings that try to enter our minds and thoughts that turns us away for the teachings of Christ and the bible.

But today I am Thankful for these three. My Family, my faith and my future. 

I am thankful for family, my wife and my son.  I wasn't raised as being a hugging and lovingly family. But when I got saved, when I became a Christian, a child of God, He took care of what I was missing. Old ways are passed and all things become new.  A new love, laughter (joy) and out look.  And I love my family, my wife and son. My wife completes me and I love her very much.  My son has given me a new direction in life, even though he's out of school, I love him dearly and I am thankful for my family.

And I am thankful for my faith. My belief in God. I love his words, his ways and will. I have two other blogs, but I not as inspired and excited as I am blogging for the Lord. Not that He needs me to, but because I want to. My faith gives me a direction, drive and desire to serve Him and for that I am thankful.

And I am thankful for  my future, I am trusting to His unseen hand.   And I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.  If that means Heaven or literally here on earth, this is my future. And I am thankful for it.

So truly we have much to be Thankful for in our life, Food, fun and fellowship with family and friends. And just to thank Him for what He as done, I bless His dear name. Praise the Lord !!

God bless you friend, for whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Call on Him today.

RevDanSam

Called to the floor

Hello All, the other day while taking my son to work, we encountered a traffic jam.  The road was closed due to a traffic accident. So I thought that I would be helpful and I had my son to tweet a message to the traffic reporter on one of our local TV station.  As she is on my twitter account.  Again, may I emphasize I did not tweet and drive, I had my son, who was on the passenger side, tweeted the message.

Well, another unknown  twitter person, sent a  message to me and said that I should have not done this, he thought I was tweeting and driving and I assured him that I didn't and I had my son, who was a passenger, to tweet the message. We had a couple and word exchange, then I promised I did not indeed, tweet and drive, but I felt like, that I was being "called on the floor" for something that I did or in this case did not do.

But the phrase, being "called the floor" spoke to my heart and mind.  You see, one day, we all will stand before God one day.  The bible says in Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:  One day you will stand before God, and at that time you will not be able negotiate your eternity nor your sinful life.  It's All determine in this life time.  For in this life time, you determine your eternity. This day, choose you this whom you will serve, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.  Now is the accepted time, today is the day of salvation. 

I did not like to be called on the floor for tweeting and driving, but one day we will All appear before Him. Are you prepared for that day ??  Will you be ready ??  

First, you have to be saved, born again, accept Jesus Christ into you heart and Life. Become a child of God,
the bible says in John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:  

Call on the name of the Lord and be save, for whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be shall.  I pray that you will.

God Bless you,

RevDanSam
 

6000th blog view

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,  unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages Eph. 3:20

Well, I have made it to another milestone with my blog, the 6000th view.  WOW, praise the Lord.  Am I making to much of this ??  Maybe not, my Lord keeps a record and perhaps I am being a blessing to my faithful readers.

I enjoy working by faith.  The Internet and the world wide web (www) is very similar to a radio signal going through out the land.  I just provide the message and I let God handle where it may go. It's like throwing out the seeds and hoping some will land on good ground and take root.

The bible teaches about the three grounds. (see Mark 4) Some seeds fell on hard ground and did not grow because there was no dept for the roots. Some fell among thorns and it was choked out. But some fell on good ground and God gave the increase. And isn't that's what it is all about, at least for me it is.  I can live with God taking what I do and using it for His name, honor and glory.

Let the praise be heard for Christ our King, who gave his life for all, Let the shouting now begin, let the song of victory swell, praising Christ through ages on, because He saved our soul from Hell.

God bless you friend, I am very happy today, I have to cut this blog a little short, perhaps I will more later. But thanks and I hope the blog is a Blessing and turns many to Christ.

RevDanSam

Happy, Happy, Happy

I appreciate the Lord this morning. I had a good time with the HIM in my Ford pickup while going to work this morning.  I had a gospel CD with a young male quartet that I had for a long time. It was still in a plastic case and sealed.  It was given to us many years ago, as we had visiting groups to come in and sing every 3rd Sunday night.

Now many groups have the professional sound with the  guitars and drums, and they had that on this CD, even on this first song. I thought, well, I will at least hear them out.  But then, the sound got better and the song selection was great and what I enjoyed.  They got to singing about the fountain and how there is a vast supply and how it will not run dry.  Well, that's all it took for me  . . . and I got HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY.

But I wondered, after I calm down a bit. What does a song like that mean to others??  I raised my hands in praise, of course I was at a stop light, but the songs moved me because I knew what it was ALL about.  Also, I was raised on those songs and grew up listening to them. I saw many a christian shout with joy and shed happy tears.  Particularly because, we rejoice in the fact that there is a fountain that has a vast supply and will never run dry.

You see, like the woman at the well, I was seeking and I found HIM, and now I want to share HIM with all.  She thought, I want water for my physical thirst.  But, Jesus had something to drink unto eternal life. The spiritual meaning it's eternal. And so it is with many today, they want and search for temporal satisfaction never considering the eternal or after life.  WHAT YOU DO IN THIS LIFE SHALL PAST, BUT WHAT YOU DO WITH JESUS SHALL LAST !!

God bless you friend, I just wanted to share my happiness in Lord today at writing of this blog post. If you are lost, you need to be saved. Accept Jesus into your heart and life, confess yours sins and live for and with HIM.

For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believed in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.  Eternity it to long to be wrong.  Call on Him today.

May God Bless you,
RevDanSam

(ps. ok, happy, happy,happy is from Duck guy, but it describes what happened to me today)
:-)

Musing 8-2-8

Romans 8:28

 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

 

One day this week, I carried my son to work where he is doing an internship.  As in the days of High school times, he wanted to have prayer time in the Ford F150 pickup truck.  We usually have prayer time while the truck warms up and windows defrost.  We have prayer and quote a bible verse. This particular morning I had him to quote Romans 8:28.  And then I thought about that verse the rest of the day.

 

First, I thought many times that many will miss-quote that verse.  For many will only quote only half of that verse for an excuse or justify something bad that has happened to them.  But an investigation of the verse says first "to them that love God"  a heart felt believing and trusting in God.  The love that a true believer has toward God.  Not mere head knowledge, but a heart knowledge too. 

 

Secondly, the bible says "to them who are the called".   Now many will confuse the call to service when God is calling them to salvation first.  I think it's very consistent in the bible and taught through out the bible. From Adam to Noah, from Abraham to Moses, From the disciples to Peter and Paul.  There was always a personal call to know Him first, then there was service. 

 

I believe in the three Calls. The call of salvation, the call of service and the call of separation or sanctification.  And many religions and many reason these in confusion.  For one to be saved, he then becomes a child of God.  But then he needs to separate worldly wisdom, words and ways out of his life and this is done through the word and the Holy Spirit.  Then you can serve Him, then you will understand what it's all about.  Saved, separated and then serve.  And wait for His second coming, but that's another blog post someday. :-)

 

But truly, I am glad that All things work together for good, but it's for those who love God and those who are called.  I can remember when He called me to salvation and I can remember when He called to service.  And daily He calls me through His word and Holy Spirit to be separated or sanctified. But He's still working on me, To make me what I outta be.   ² And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God and conformed to the image of his Son,

 

But dear friend, answer the call, God works at different times and in different ways to get your attention. So hear ye Him while He is near, Draw nigh to the Lord and He will draw nigh to you.

 

God Bless you,

RevDanSam

 

 

 

Our unseen faith

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ² For by it the elders obtained a good report. ³ Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Heb. 11:1-3

One never knows when and what God will do to remind you of a spiritual truth as He did to us.
The other day, I ask my son to take out the trash.  When he came back in the house, he said I have walked through a spider web.  I feel it but I cannot see it.  I instinctively said son that's just like faith.  The substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. 

It reminded me of the little boy who was kite flying.  His kite was so high in the clouds and could not be seen.  Another little boy came by his way, who was his neighbor,  and he ask where's your kite and how do you know it there??  The boy said I know it's there because I feel the tug from the other side.

Truly, in many times and in many ways, God works in the unseen.  When we don't know how, that's when God steps in.  It's like the wind. We can not see the wind but only the effects of it. But the wind feels good on a very hot day.

In our day that we live in now, many have turn away from unseen faith and desire the seen and practical.  It instead of praying for twenty dollars, they want 20 dollars in their hand and they want it now.  But God says to ask, seek and knock.  Ask God, the reason we have not is because we ask not.  Then we should seek God, and look for Him to work and see His workings.  Knock really speaks of opening. Allowing God to open doors and ways for Him to work.

It's like the scriptures that say pray in secret and I will reward thee openly.  We should live and work by faith.
"There is an unseen hand to me, that leads the way I cannot see, while going through this land of woe, His unseen hand will lead me as I go, I'm trusting to, His unseen hand, that leads me through this weary land and some sweet day, I'll reach that strand, still guided by the unseen hand".

Dear friend, trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not on your own understanding. For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

God bless you,

RevDanSam