Words of Wisdom

As I sat in service on last Sunday, I was amazed at how the Spirit of the Lord struck me concerning our lack of reverence to God. We had just given our tithes and offerings and there was no excitement or honor to the Lord in it. Next, the music ministry encouraged us to let the glory of the Lord rise among us and nothing seemed to move us. I am not looking for us to swing from the rafters but if we examine the Scriptures we would see these times were periods of celebration in Israel. In Deuteronomy 26, it talks about the year of the tithe and how it was to be offered and honored by the people. Our Communion service is to represent the time of celebration when the children of Israel left Egypt; their place of bondage. Pentecost was a week long celebration of the harvest of the land. I want you to consider the question that was raised in Malachi 1:6; "But if I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of me?" In Malachi 2:2, the scripture declare; "If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor my name, says the Lord of Hosts, I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. In fact, I have already begun to curse them because you are not taking it to heart." With these scriptures in mind, I want each of us to decide how important it is to obey God, regardless of how we feel or what is going on in our lives.

Michael A. Ellerbe