My home church recently became aware of a small congregation on the Oregon coast that finds themselves without a pastor, following their pastor's retirement after 25 years. As an outreach of our church, God has given me the privilege to go and minister to these brothers and sisters in Christ. I have been graced with the opportunity to teach their adult Sunday School class and preach their morning message. As the Lord allows, the current plan is for my wife and I to travel there each Sunday for the next several weeks. God has already blessed us in this ministry and travel time together.
As I shared with them for the first time last week, I felt compelled to remind them of an important truth. God cares for the local church. He cares for their church, those who fellowship there and for the people that live in the communities surrounding it. Their congregation is not large in number but their love for the Savior is evident. I was reminded of Acts 17:17, where speaking of the Apostle Paul, the author wrote, "So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present." I so much appreciate what it says here. Paul was not moved by the Spirit to speak only to a certain number of people but he shared God's truth "with those who happened to be present."
Paul was concerned for the church that met in Prisca and Aquila's house. He was inspired to write to the church in Rome, the church in Corinth, the churches of Galatia, the church of Ephesus, of Philippi, of Colossae and of Thessalonica. He wrote to Titus regarding the churches on the island of Crete. God is building His Church, the body of Christ. But He cares for the local church. As only God could do, He inspired various letters to be written to believers located in different places and then preserved them for His use in speaking to all members of the body of Christ who have gathered through the centuries at various churches around the world. Praise the Lord for such a miraculous work as that.
May God give direction to this group of believers that He has privileged me to work with and may He give me the words to share each week with those who happen to be present.
