The Ship Of Grace

Let the winds of destruction batter long,
Her walls assailed from within and without;
Still, the sounds of Old One Hundred* rise strong,
Her weatherworn cross proudly lifting stout!
Yet, she stands! Despite storms that drag her down,
Amazing those outside her happy fold;
God's folk inside know of her queenly crown,
A wedding feast for them, heaven will hold!
Hear me, you demons that abide below,
Wreak your worst upon the old Ship of Grace**;
Christ loves His bride, and nothing you bestow
Will keep His church from her appointed place!
Sail on, O ark; you are safe from the flood,
Your precious cargo washed in precious blood!

*favorite old hymn **church

You will take a giant leap upward in your climb to gain, and to stay in, the love of Jesus if you make attending church a habit in your life. Of course, you can be saved and never go to church, but it is a hundred times easier if you include church attendance. The benefits to you? Uncountable!

Most important benefit: Faith in Jesus. Romans 10:17 informs us that the way you get and grow faith in Jesus is by hearing, hearing, hearing the gospel. Everytime you attend worship, you will hear, hear, hear a sermon that tells the good news of gospel. Also, you need to attend a small group session, where others just like you are seeking ways to love each other. They are there to help in times of trouble, like when you lose your job, or get sick and need child care, or when a loved one dies, etc. There are thousands of times of distress and thousands of ways you are going to need help. Their prayers, calls, visits, gifts of food, etc., will assist you to survive crises, and your aid to them likewise will fit Jesus' admonition in Matthew 25 to assist your brethren to gain salvation.

Every dollar you put in the collection plate will multiply itself a hundred or more times by the dollars that others also give. Large groups can help supply the needs of the deprived in geometrically greater proportion than what one individual can do. A person who believes he wants to be saved by God but who decides not to attend church is thinking more of himself than of serving others.

Space will not permit even a tenth of the benefits of church attendance to be listed. Going it alone is keeping God from having a fair chance of blessing you and showing what He will do for you. As for myself, I can testify to having received many miraculous healings from God as a result of my church friends' prayers for safety undergoing dangerous surgeries; plus He restored my eyesight because of their prayers; plus He protected me through 5 years of danger all over the world from 1943 to 1948, due to the faithful prayers of my childhood church brethren, and many other blessings I hardly can guess. I shudder to think what would have been my fate relying only upon myself.