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“Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.” (Hosea 14:9)
What a Sunday! My routine afternoon nap will surely be a no-show. You see, I am truly perplexed. Oh, church went well, but it was the church conference that following the service, that actually gave me a giant headache. Where are those headache pills?
I just wonder why the committee happened to chose me to do this revision. I realize it's probably overdue. We do need to update the church's position on new members. Guess it was because of my legal expertise. Well, I'm not going to worry now about this assignment, especially on a nice Sunday afternoon. I'll tackle this detail sometime tomorrow.
Then it happened. I must have been more tired than I realized, for I had instantly fallen asleep in my easy chair. Suddenly, with no warning, I found myself in a strange library. This library was filled not with the traditional book volumes, but with strange looking ancient biblical scrolls.
The premiere catalog section of Modern Day Religion seemingly had the bulk of the public interest. Included in this section were such sub-titles as Social Gospel, Modern Day Religion, Modern Ways To Heaven, Cultural Religion Principles, The Bible Untruths, and the list continued on and on.
Then, as if by divine revelation, my sight was directed immediately to another apparition, a strange looking man dressed in Bible garb sitting behind a large desk, having the appearance of a librarian. As I drew his attention, he stopped writing in a large scroll and asked, "May I help you?"
"Yes you may," I responded rather quickly. Having a comfortable feeling that our spirits were in sync, and feeling comfortable talking with him, I quickly turned my problem over to him.
"You see, our church wishes to revise our church constitution to include adding a section covering new members. I realize this topic may well be a broad one, but I somehow I feel you may be able to help me," I said.
The nice man smiled, placed his hand on my shoulder and led me to a remote back section of the library with overhead signage which read, "The First Christian Church." And as we entered, he directed me to a subtitle section which read "City of Jerusalem." Apparently this library section had not had many visitors, for the entranceway and into the further sections, I saw that the entire area was draped with cobwebs, and the scrolls appeared to be dusty and moldy.
Somehow that decor didn't matter to me, for in my spirit I felt I was at the right place, even though its contents didn't seem very popular. As I walked around the various sections reading the headings, the man apparently wanted to give me some insight, as he to hung around, looking over my shoulder.
Tapping me on the shoulder, he said, "I know you are anxious to get started, but let me give you a subtle hint, if I may. You see, you really need to start from the beginning in updating your church constitution introduction to include such headings as The Church Objective, The Church Declaration, and The Church Authority and Intent. Then you will ready for the main topic of New Member Guidelines.
After handing me two scrolls covering these subjects, he swiftly walked out of that section, and back to his desk.
"Wow, this surely hit the spot, if only I may copy from these scrolls," I whispered to myself as I unrolled the first scroll. How he heard me was a miracle, in and of itself. He must have read my mind. For he just looked back smiling with a big nod of the head.
So after a little prayer for help, I dove right into it all. My first rewrite was the objective of the church. As if by divine guidance, I integrated the following Scriptural doctrines: the salvation of the lost; the edification of believers through the teaching of God's Holy Word; the world wide proclamation of the gospel; the promotion of Godly worship; the defense of the "Faith Once Delivered"; and the study of the Scriptures, until He comes again.
Then came the "Declaration." This one seemed a little harder to compile, as it had to include the form of worship. After a little prayer, it seemed to come easy, however, when I included mentioning the first church having started through the work of the Holy Spirit: "Believing that we can best worship God and serve our fellow man through a congregational form of church government, and at the same time, remain loyal to the fundamental principles that are recorded in the Holy Scriptures, and not being unmindful of the heritage that is ours in and through the Holy Church of New Testament faith, we do hereby declare it to be our desire to be independent of other churches and totally dependent on our Lord Jesus Christ."
Finally then, came the church's authority and intent. This one was really easy, for again as if by divine instruction, the section was all about the Holy Scripture. (John 14:26) "The Word of God is our ultimate authority and is superior to the content and meaning of this constitution by which the organization will be administered. It is intended that in no way will the teachings of Christ or the Holy Scripture be pre-empted."
Wow! Just let me take a break, before I dive into the meat of the constitution rewrite, that being the New Member Guidelines. Before I could catch my breath, this strange librarian came back to help. And I'm glad he did, for he made this part of my project much easier. Reaching for the second scroll, we quickly went to work on the New Member Guidelines.
Before starting the section, the librarian seemed to want to give me a pep talk and he surely did.
"You see the church has been commissioned to do even greater works than Jesus did, quoting (John14:12). Not greater in "quality" but in "quantity". And to make this happen, God sent His Holy Spirit to all believers, including your prospective new members, to be witnesses to all. And these new members will help by showing the love of Christ to all. (Matthew 28:19-20) So now you're ready to write. Just turn to (Acts 2:41-47) and go for it. Which I did very easily.
NEW MEMBER GUIDELINES
Those who have received His Word and are baptized shall become members of this congregation, (Acts 2:41) Thus, the Lord will add to our membership day by day those who are being saved. (Acts 2:47) All new members should pursue the example of the First Church doctrine as follows:
New Members should continually devote themselves to the Scripture, to Christian fellowship, and the breaking of bread and prayer. (Acts 2:42)
New Members should keep a sense of awe, as many wonders and signs take place in the church. (Acts 2:43)
New Members should be of one accord and have all things in common. (Acts 2:44)
New Members should be aware of the needs of others. (Acts 2:45)
New Members should continue with one mind in church worship and the Christian fellowship one with another. (Acts 2:46)
New Members should continually praise God and have favor with all people. (Acts 2:47)
Then, with this in mind our Lord will add to our membership day by day those who are being saved. (Acts 2:47)"
Wow! Now I'm really exhausted. That's enough for now. Rolling through those ancient scrolls was a tough task. Just where did that nice librarian go? I must thank him for his help. Well, I never made it back to his desk, for as if by divine guidance, I was suddenly awakened.
What happened next was nothing short of divine intervention for lying on my desk was Mom's old tattered Bible, open to the second chapter of Acts. And stuck in these pages of her Bible was a hand-written note which read, "This is what our church needs, especially the new folks coming on board. I'm now too old, but please Lord, help my son to make it happen. Make our church come alive again. Amen!"
"Is this not strange, or what?" I murmured, as I fell to my knees in prayer. Just how long this prayer lasted, however, I'll never know. But it got the job done. Amen!
I just can't wait till I get it all together and present it to the committee. And that I did. By another miracle, a special church conference was called that very next Sunday after my unusual dream. I was so glad I was ready.
And yes, my constitution rewrite was passed unanimously and was a big success, with God's help. For you see, our church has grown by leaps and bounds. God does work in mysterious ways His wonders to perform, a
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