Do Church – I am here, Present in my Church

1. Lord, we thank You that we are here together to worship You and that we are all together blessed by You. We don’t just simply go to Church. We ARE the Church. I was thinking this past week, that there are many types of Churches. Small in size, large ones, medium sized ones, but all the Churches, but they all have one common thing, they consist of people, just like you and me. And these Churches, whether they are large or small, consist of people who have abilities, different talents, different nationalities and cultures, but all these people again have something in common. They were all called by the same Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, to belong to a global plan, to belong to the Church of God, but in some way, God organized that these people should belong to a local Church for them to perform some work.
2. I studied Business Administration at University, which is something that is available globally. But my first job, when I had just completed my studies, was to work in a lawyer’s office. You see, all people who completed business administration, didn’t all go to lawyers’ offices. The same thing occurs with God’s Children. God calls them to be involved in the larger plan of God. But He ordains that they work in a Local Church, whether it is big, medium, or small. And when I was thinking about these things, I thought that, that’s why we are a flock, and we follow a pastor. Those who move around from Church to Church and criticizes, is the devil. The Children of God, belong only in a flock. We don’t just move around anywhere and everywhere, and it’s OK. We must belong somewhere. It’s God’s plan that we should belong somewhere. And that’s why we are here, to grow, to improve, and to become one with Him.
3. My topic today is, “How can I become a blessing to my Church”, and when I read this topic, I thought – I don’t need to read or study anything. I don’t even need to say anything. The only thing that I could say, it’s what I used to say when I was a student. When the teacher would enter the classroom, she would say “Maria Ioanidou” – “Present, she would say”. “Leto Karantoni” – “Present” I would say. It’s the same that I was thinking about for this topic. I could say one word and stop – “Present”. The Greek word for “Present” is made up of two words, from the word “Para”, and the ancient Greek word “On”, which means “I am”, so, the word “Paron” (Present), means, ‘Here I am”. Hallelujah, truly Lord I am here. And truly I said to my husband, “I’m going to say this word, and I will need to say nothing else”. Because, if we know what this word means exactly, this “I am here”, would need nothing else.
4. I am here to pray, for the workers, for the pastors. We want our pastors to have wisdom, is that not so? We want them to have strength, we want them to have empowerment, and we believe that they may have all these things by themselves, but we have a duty, to pray for them, and this is one way to bless our Church. Because when our pastor has wisdom, when those who are responsible for us, have wisdom, those who will guide us through the Word of God, this changes the entire Church atmosphere. Ask form God to change YOU. To change the way you think, to change the way you LIVE. Ask the Lord to make you a blessing in this Church. And you know what, when we are in Lord’s presence, that changes us. When we are in the Lord’s presence, this changes us. I am present Lord; I am here Lord. I’m praying Lord, change me, Lord. Lord let me have love, for the Body, Lord, for the Church, give me commitment for the people next to me. I am present, Lord. I want to, Lord, mold me, Lord, I am the clay, and I stand before You, and I ask from You, Lord, wisdom and strengthening for the workers and the Pastors.
5. Usually, we go to Church and we have expectations from our Pastors, from the leaders and those who are workers. But I want to borrow from a phrase that President Kennedy used, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country”. I’m going to change it a little, and I’ll say something, “Don’t come to Church, thinking what the Church will do for you, but think what you can do for your Church”. “I’m present, Lord”. “I’m present to give, Lord, to give of my time, my talents, my offerings and my tithes”.
6. Our Example is Christ. We need to learn to give in the same way He gave. In this way, I’ll bless my Church, when I learn to give as He gave, without expecting something back, without expecting a reward. You know, God has His ways of giving us whatever we need. But one way which God chose to give, is you and I. This is the way God chose to provide for our needs. Giving of your time, of your money, of your talents, you help your Church to shine before men. I’m telling you the truth. Generosity has to fill our hearts. The Word of God says, that wherever your treasure is, that’s where your heart is also. And today we say to You we are present., You are our treasure. That’s where we place our heart, in You Lord. We want to imitate you Lord, to be able to give without expecting something in return.
7. God has placed us close to each other. Do you want to bless your Church? Yes, Lord, I am present. I’m here to support my brother. I’m here to support you. You are here to support me. Not to criticize me. Not to gossip about me. You know that weeds, I grew up in a small village, and my grandmothers had vegetable gardens, with eggplants and baby marrows, and every morning, my grandmother would pull out the weeds. She said, because if I leave these weeds, they would swallow up the good seeds which were in the ground. Support me to get rid of the weeds in my life. I need you to pull them out. And Lord, I am present to be a gardener in your Church, amongst your children. Lord, I’m here to support and not to criticize. Lord, I’m present for all my brothers and sisters. You know, many times, without realizing it, we create cliques, small groups, very close-knit friendships. But Jesus died for all of us.
8. Let’s become bridges to join people together, and not become small groups which exclude the others. Embrace all those whom no one else embraced in the Church. See others who may be the strangest people in the world with a smile. Include others in your joy, in your company, in your communications. Be a bridge, so that people can walk across and to be joined on the other side, with many other people. I’m present Lord, and I’m a disciple Lord. I’m a servant, Lord. In this way we bless our Church. We are disciples. We are servants. God is looking for empty vessels. So that He may fill them with new things. We’re always thinking about the glory days of the past. How pleasant it was then. How many miracles we saw then, and we continue to live in the past. The Lord wants to make us new wine skins, to put new wine into them.
9. I was thinking as I was reading my sermon again today, the miracle in Cana. You all know what happened in Cana, don’t you? Jesus turned the water into wine and then offered it to the people. The greatness of this miracle for me, was that the people did not know where the wine had come from. Do you know who knew where the wine had come from? Only the servants. Only they knew that the urns had been filled with water, and it had turned into wine. The rest of the people enjoyed the wine. But what a wonderful thing for the servants., to know that they were involved in this miracle. That they were present at the happening of this miracle. “Lord, I’m present”. I want to be a servant of yours. Again, “Lord, I’m present”. I want to bless my Church with my presence. And, I left this to the last on purpose, and I want us to read the verses from the Bible, from Hebrews 10: 24-25. “And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
10. The day before yesterday, my sister who lives in England, wrote a small note saying, “What I am today, required a lot of work, so that I could be what I am today, and I want to thank you all, my family, that you have contributed to what I am today”. The person, I am today, Spiritually, physically, strong, weak, I want to thank you all, because you have contributed to what I am today. In Cyprus, when one is deemed to be a hero, and I imagine everywhere in the world, when there is a memorial service for heroes, and they mention the name of the hero, all the people gathered there shout out “present”. The hero himself, is not there, but what he did, remains. His sacrifice is before us. “Present Lord”. Make my work show Your glory. Let us motivate one another, and let each one of us show the others’ good works.
11. The Church works at its best when all the saints are in unity. And we need you, we want to see you, we want you to be here, you are a blessing in our lives. So, then let’s gather together in Church, let’s pray for our Church, let’s become servants of one another, let’s serve one another. “Present, Lord”. “I am here”. May the Lord bless you all.