Unique Presence

‘Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” Matt.28:20

Jesus is the foundation of the entity called the church. The original Greek word translated church is the word ‘Ekklesia’. Please follow me carefully; I would not throw a Greek word at you if it is not significant. The word ekklesia simply means a gathering or an assembly of people summoned [called out] for a particular purpose. For instance, citizens called out and gathered together for civic duties is an ekklesia. In other words, the national assembly is an ekklesia. Soldiers called out to go to war for a particular purpose become an ekklesia. Ekklesia never referred to a specific place instead it always referred to a specific gathering. So Jesus was saying He is going to build His own assembly of people and the foundation of this assembly will be Him. He will be the most important person in that assembly and no power of hell will conquer it, and He will always be with this assembly of people. ‘For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them’ Matt.18:20 [NIV]. So what makes the church unique is the presence of Jesus. The difference between the church and other associations or clubs is the presence of Jesus. When Jesus is present anything can happen – the blind see, the lame walk, the barren conceive, the poor get promoted, and the sinner gets saved. So the most important person in that gathering is Jesus. The most important person in God’s Favourite House is Jesus. Jesus, and not the Pastor, is the only person that must be present in a service. I was at a conference where the speaker shared this experience. She said she went to Starbucks to get a drink, Starbucks is a coffee house, and Starbucks didn’t have a hot drink. She twitted, “I am in Starbucks and they don’t have coffee”. And someone twitted back “I went to McDonalds one day and they didn’t have burgers”. Another person twitted back “I went to Dunkin donuts and they didn’t have donuts”. Let me bring it home to Nigeria, it is like going to Mr.Biggs and there’s no meat-pie or going to Tasty Fried Chicken and there’s no chicken. That’s a misnomer. Similarly, if you go to church and Jesus is not present, it is a misnomer because ‘unto him shall the gathering of his people be’.

Prayer: Father, I thank You for Your abiding Presence with me, in my home, and in Your church, in Jesus Name.