When most churches come together on Sunday mornings, congregants will sit in their pews as attendees to singing, praying, offering, announcements, preaching, and communion. If that describes your church, then what you mostly do is a ‘celebration’ of the Lord’s day. There is a division between the platform and the rest of the sanctuary. That’s OK but there is little room for the body of Christ to function in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But look what Paul addresses to every one, not just a Pastor and a Praise Team leader:
How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. (1 Corinthians 14:26 KJV)
Jesus said in Matthew 20:28 that He came to serve, not to be served. If we call our meetings on Sunday mornings ‘services’, where is the service? Shouldn’t we be bringing something to serve others. Have we forgotten this in our entertainment age? Look what the Word of God says:
“No one may appear before Me without an offering.” (Exodus 34:20b NLT)
Instead of just coming to receive something and being served, we should be coming with something to give and to serve. We should be preparing ourselves spiritually before we ever enter the church to be used by the Holy Spirit. Are the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit in operation in your life and church? 1st Corinthians 12:7 tells us, “A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.” Does your church leadership encourage this or are they unwilling to give up the reigns of control for fear of disorder (1 Corinthians 14:40), thus preventing the Holy Spirit from freely moving? May they be obedient to 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 and quench not the Holy Spirit.
Notice the action verbs in the following command to Christians:
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV)
The question comes down to the individual level. When you step through the doors of your church, are you engaging, ready to not only receive, but to give? Or are you invisible, slipping in and out? Not to burst your bubble even worse, tithing does not count. It is nothing more than giving back to God what He already owns in the first place. Being an Elder or a Deacon, or any other office in the church doesn’t suffice neither. They are only positions. Let’s learn from David:
But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.” So David paid him fifty pieces of silver for the threshing floor and the oxen. (2 Samuel 24:24 NLT)
Annointing 