Why Going To Church Is Important by Pastor Dolapo Lawal: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Introduction: fans or disciples

When the purpose of a thing is not known, abuse is inevitable. Sometimes we don't know why it's important to come to church

In my church, people can tell from my Instagram when I'll be in church. When I'm in church, attendance is high. When I'm not, it drops.

When a ministry is like that, you're not raising disciples, you're raising fans. It's a very bad sign

Think about how sad and inconsiderate it is that I can send somebody to minister in my place. When is their turn to minister? Think about how you would feel

When pastors are praying, people line up in my line

What we see as anointing is often acceptance. That is what fans do, not disciples

When God is pulling you towards a ministry, you receive the man and you receive the ministry. You don't just receive the man, or you will kill him

I used to brag that there was no church member whose house I had not visited. I can't brag like that again. I do two every week and I can't keep up

I also used to brag that there was nobody in our church whose name I did not know. Now after service I don't know people's names because there are so many

There must be pastors within the flock, people who take responsibility. If not, you will just die listening

What will be your Christian enterprise? You come to church, listen and go home

You have a cute religion that you share with your children, but you are not an outflow and you will never grow

God doesn't put grace in a container. Grace is oil. It has to flow. If there is nowhere for it to flow to, it won't come upon you

Why is church attendance important?

1. We attend church because it is Christian

   Traditions delivered with the gospel

   1 Corinthians 11:2

   Notice the word traditions, or ordinances

   2 Thessalonians 2:15, 2 Thessalonians 3:6

   Traditions were delivered. Where else do we have that word delivered?

   1 Corinthians 15:3 to 1 Corinthians 15:4

   He delivered the death, burial and resurrection, which is the gospel

   Romans 6:17, Jude 3

   Read also 2 Peter 2:21

   Traditions were delivered just as the gospel was delivered. The gospel was delivered with traditions

   When we received the message of salvation, ordinances were delivered with it, like an infrastructure for the gospel to drive

   Two types of traditions

   There are traditions or ordinances that come with the gospel, and there are traditions of men. We must make that distinction

   Galatians 1:14, Colossians 2:8

   Colossians 2:16 to Colossians 2:18

   Traditions of men: don't eat this, don't drink this, festivals, new moon, Sabbath, false humility, worship of angels

   Matthew 15:3

   The tradition delivered with the gospel is different from the traditions of men

   Some say if you want to encounter God, pray 3 hours every day for five weeks and something will break loose. Paul didn't do that. In fact, he never prayed once when he had an encounter

   Philip teleported and he wasn't praying Acts 8:39. What qualified him was that he knew the Bible. The Ethiopian was reading and hungry.

   God asked who can I send to this man that wherever he is reading will show him Christ. Philip

   Sometimes the anointing is because of the expectation of the people before the anointed.

   You are counselling someone and the anointing comes, you know what to say and you are surprised you are making sense.

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   There was a demand on the anointing and you were an available vessel

   Some say there is a way you fast, a way you press, a window from 2:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. That is about 9:00 p.m. in America. God is not that hard

   Definition

   Traditions of men means Jesus and this for acceptance

   When you put something with Jesus, that is traditions of men. Acceptance is because of Jesus. Finish Ephesians 1:6

   Not because we know how to do something or have done something. From there he can make demands on the life he has put in us.

   We are not doing it for acceptance. We are doing it from acceptance

   It's like saying, try your best to be a fish. Enter water and start swimming. If you swim long enough you will get used to it, because you will die.

   But you become a fish and the water becomes your ecosystem. That's what God did in Christ

   We are not doing to be. We have become, so we do

   Our traditions

   • Praying
   • Fasting. Jesus said when you fast, not if you fast Matthew 6:16
   • Baptism
   • Communion
   • Giving, that is generosity
   • Reading and studying the scriptures
   • Singing hymns and worship songs
   • Gathering

   One of the traditions of our faith is coming together

   The attack is on the gathering

   The persecution of the early church was not an attack on what was in their hearts. It was on their coming together. They were not allowed to gather, but they found a way

   Gathering is so integral to the gospel that it was forbidden. If we could just believe and there was no need to gather, there would have been no need for persecution in the New Testament

   Acts 2:41 to Acts 2:45

   You see the traditions that come with the gospel in this passage. The wonders and signs done through the apostles happened in the gathering

   The believers being together also refers to gathering

   Christianity has a culture

   We are a new creation 2 Corinthians 5:17. The new creation is a nation, a holy nation 1 Peter 2:9. A nation is a people, and there is a way we can be

   There is an individualistic Christianity that western culture can sell to you. It is not Christianity. Christianity is a life that has a lifestyle

   The life of Christ in us produces a disposition. There is a level of meekness, a level of grace, a level of diligence you can see in a believer

   The early church is our prototype. The outpouring of the Spirit came on 120 people, not one person in the house. Jesus told them to wait. Jesus sent them two by two

   95% of the time Jesus spoke to the disciples as disciples, as the 12, the 70, the 120, the multitude or three. He never called one aside.

   Every outpouring of the Spirit in the New Testament was in company Acts 2, Acts 4, Acts 13

   Ephesians 5:18 to Ephesians 5:19 says singing to one another. The communal component is there

   Illustration: the individualistic mindset

   Western culture can take this from you. Growing up in Nigeria, my younger sister could speak Igbo very well because she was always with our neighbors, the Chilaka family

   Neighbors could discipline you on behalf of your parents, and when your parents came they said thank you

   Where I stay in the US, I have been there 3 or 4 years and have not seen my neighbor's garage.

   The one time he spoke to me was about electric cars. I was looking for a way to preach the gospel to him. How can I be a pastor and not know my neighbor?

   I asked if I could get him water. He said no.

   Two years now and I've not seen him

   You are living an individualistic, lonely kind of life. You bring that mindset to church

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   Pastor Dolapo Lawal

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   You have a seat partner you don't know. Some people sit beside someone and never look at their face. Then they rush after church to nowhere, to watch Netflix alone

   Some governments import ideas but not the infrastructure for them. If you want federalism, you have to give states autonomy. You claim you are a federal state and everything is centralized

   The infrastructure for the miraculous

   Acts 2:41 to Acts 2:45

   The power of God flows where his nature is manifest, which is love. Prayer here is not individualistic. It is together

   If you ask why we are not seeing power like Bible days, there are no believers like Bible days. Look at what they did with their possessions.

   If you can't do this, don't expect a miracle from me

   There is an infrastructure for the miraculous. If the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God and God is love, he walks in an atmosphere of love and grace

   You can't be in a rush and have the best of the Holy Spirit. He comes when you wait for him as a promise. You can't rush him. It's you that needs him

   Church is family

   Psalm 68:5 to Psalm 68:6

   The rebellious is someone not in family. That is the meaning of the text

   God picks your pastor for you. The word set means he coordinates, he orders

   You went to a church where everything was nice but you didn't feel at home.

   You went to another where the speaker was not as polished but you felt at peace. That is the principle of this text

   Don't walk out of family. I stole my sister's one year savings. As she was depositing, I was withdrawing. They punished me.

   She said she was writing a statement and we were going to the police station. But that night it was still family

   Don't say God is your father if you don't treat other believers as real siblings.

   Just as you are connected to your biological siblings by blood, you are connected to the person next to you by the eternal blood of Jesus

   When old time believers said "bro Kenneth," they did not say it as a title. They meant it

   In families you have problematic people. You don't throw them under the bus

   Many believers are the shepherd that lets the one wander and keeps the 99. Jesus leaves the 99 for the one Luke 15:4

   To condemn somebody is to look at them and conclude they can't be better than what you have seen. You say this is how they will die.

   When you condemn people like that, you don't have a ministry Romans 8:1

   Church people can be classist. "I can't go to that church, they are not on my level." There is nowhere higher than church.

   The church is seated with Christ Ephesians 2:6. This is not a normal place Hebrews 12:23

   The King's son, the prince, is your friend. Almighty God's child is beside you, and no matter what they are wearing, they have something more than good

   Someone asked me to pray for two who had fallen in love, that the parents would come on board. I asked if they were believers

   One of the parents is even a pastor. So why do they not want the marriage? Is it because the person is Igbo?

   Tribalism: "I can't trust Igbo people, Yoruba people, they lie." You can't talk like that Galatians 3:28, Ephesians 4:20

   Summary of point one: we attend church because it is Christian. It is part of the tradition. You cannot come to church when you feel like and be a mature Christian

Church is not customer service

You didn't just come and say, lights, speakers. Somebody set this up. You can do church for 6 or 7 years and not know

When we started, my mom had just given her life to Christ and joined the church. She took a broom and was sweeping the staircase.

Dust fell on a girl coming from downstairs and the girl said, "Don't you have sense?"

I was inside praying, forming man of God, and I went out and said, "Are you mad?" I had forgotten I was the pastor, because that was my mother

The girl didn't get the point that somebody old enough to be your mother is making things ready for you

You can come to church, see the place dirty and say, "There is no excellence." In other words, we should serve you. That's not how to do church

A lot of people approach church with a customer service mindset. I like the music. It's too loud. That's not how to do church

The church had just started and had already appointed deacons, seven of them Acts 6:3. The apostles said, from among you select seven.

They did not hear from the Holy Spirit to pick kings. Mature people, full of wisdom and the Spirit, manifest because they want to serve

That's where spiritual maturity is. You can't sit back and want everything pre-done. You are not a customer. This is your Father's house

If something is not going right, you don't complain. You pray and work on it

Helps is a spiritual gift

1 Corinthians 12:28

Helps means service units. God put an apostle and a Sunday school teacher in the same WhatsApp group and called it a spiritual gift

You may say, "I don't know how to speak in tongues." But you can sweep. "I don't know how to preach." But you can clean.

In a spiritual environment, God calls it a spiritual gift. It is the same as varieties of tongues

Just as the pastor will be judged for his teaching, you will be judged if you can't help

Help is the interjection between the miraculous and meeting the needs of people. Jesus can multiply bread, but somebody has to help with bread

Illustration: the boy with five loaves

Jesus can pray and give thanks for it, but the first question is, does anybody have bread here? A small boy had five loaves and two fish John 6:9. The disciples probably hid their own

When Jesus finished multiplying, 12 baskets remained. Twelve disciples probably shared it, so the boy probably did not take any bread home. What was his blessing? He had the privilege to be a miracle worker with Jesus

Everybody there ate. Some people might doubt and say maybe they bought it. But that boy, as they were sharing the bread, was looking at it: this is my bread

People who serve are strong in faith. You can't talk them out of their conviction because they are in it

Say we pray for somebody who cannot walk and the person starts walking. If you are not in the inner circle you can say maybe they paid somebody.

But if you are inside and know the pastor, you know it's a miracle. You can't have that conviction if you are not inside

What God blesses people who serve with is partnership with him for the miraculous. They are not Christians you can throw up and down. They know whom they have believed

Discern what God says, not what you like

Many of us don't know how to follow. We clone. If you are not discerning, you do what you like and not what God is saying to do

The most honorable thing is doing exactly what God said.

If I started a church and God doesn't want me starting a church, what I'm doing is not God's will for my life, no matter how cute it is

Esther could not say, "I'm too spiritual to do a beauty pageant." That was the pathway to manifesting her purpose Esther 2

Daniel took the job from Nebuchadnezzar. Discernment helped him know what men called him and how God saw him, as a prophet Daniel 1.

You can spiritualize yourself out of your miracle and end up crying in Jerusalem, "Lord, give me a job"

Pastor and member share alike

1 Samuel 30:21 to 1 Samuel 30:24

David pursued those who took their wives and children. 200 men stayed back because they were weary. They came back after David had recovered all

Those who went with David were described as wicked and worthless. When you are not discerning and you see favor on others and you are angry, you are worthless

They said the 200 would get none of the spoil except their wives and children. David said, you shall not do so

Pastor and member will share alike. God will not reward Pastor Paulo more than someone in children's church. He is not rewarding title. He is rewarding assignment, faithfulness in what he has given you

Show up

I cannot say, I'm too tired, I can't come to church. You should not say that either

Never get to a point in your heart where it is okay to not be in service. You are fulfilling a wrong prophecy Hebrews 10:25

It is a bad prophecy to fulfill.

When the Bible says some will not come to church, and you are the people it is talking about, you show up

You don't come to church when you feel like it. You come to church because you come to church. Nobody operates by feeling

Anybody who is intentionally not consistent in church, you cannot convince me you have a discipline of praying every day.

If you are not consistent in church attendance, chances are you are not consistent in any spiritual practice

If you can't be disciplined enough to wake up, bathe, brush and use roll-on, it's very considerate. It's spiritual

Never say, "If I'm not there, they won't miss me." Make it a practice

Plug in, and wait your turn

A lot of people have not learned how to plug in to what God is doing. They come late or spectate too long

Because Peter came before you, you submit to Peter no matter how spiritual you are. Why? He came first.

Look at how they picked the replacement for Judas Acts 1:21 to Acts 1:22

Extremely gifted people join our church, but you will wait, because no matter how gifted you are, you have not been tested with waiting. There are people who came before you

It's hard to join a growing church. It's easier when the church is small and everybody can come

When you see a move of God and sense a pull, plug in. It is a platform for ministry

Someone has been in this house 7 years listening to my teaching and can pastor. You can know all the Greek words, but you will listen to her. She came first. I'm talking about ministry

You don't just want the church growing. This is not a business

The idea of church growth, of multiplication, is like family. You grow so that other people can do ministry. You don't just pack a crowd. That's not sheep, that's goats.

Sheep are in a flock. They have a shepherd

Equipped for the work of ministry

Matthew 9:36

See how Jesus described people without pastors

You come to church to be equipped to do the work of ministry Ephesians 4:12. After three and a half years, the disciples were in apostleship. There must be that pattern in our Christian work

Have you seen meetings in Nigeria with thousands of people? The average age of a Nigerian is 18.9. Those crowds are not all 18-year-olds.

The average Nigerian doesn't go to church. The crowd might be deceiving us

An average Nigerian is a teenager and doesn't have a pastor. We have to rise quickly and take responsibility

The pastor an average Nigerian can hear is about 24 to 37, one who can speak their language.

If you are in that age, you must do ministry. We have to rise

When I look at those thousands of people, I look for the teenagers and they are not there. I shake my head

The harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few

Matthew 9:37 to Matthew 9:38, Luke 10:2

Jesus said the laborers are few. Then he sent out the very people he told to pray Matthew 10:1

We are not praying for harvest. The harvest is there. Our problem is laborers. When we pray, Lord, send forth laborers, the first answer is you. The laborers are not far. They are here

Let God be true Romans 3:4. If he said one is a thousand, that is one's capacity. Two is ten thousand Deuteronomy 32:30.

Think about what it would look like if all of us rose

Burden before planting

The Lord told me, don't plant a church in a place you don't have a burden for. You will be opening an outlet, not a church.

Don't open a church where your foot has not stepped and you cannot sense the need

We can't just keep having this cute Nigerian international. How do we go out there and get people? People don't have a burden. They just want another church

Prayer

• Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you.
• The things we have heard among many witnesses, may the same be committed to faithful men who will be able to teach others as well.

2 Timothy 2:2