A New Beginning: The House of God

Recently, I received a newsletter from the church in Pennsylvania I grew up in. It is now   Chichester Baptist Church and the article that grabbed my attention was written by the pastor, an old friend from my youth, Dr. Joel D. Winters. It was a column he entitled “Pastor’s Pondering.” In part, here is the information I wanted to share with you, my readers. He entitled the part beginning “Introduction” with the title I put on this entry: “A New Beginning. . . .”

 

January is the first month of the new year, 2023. Our emphasis this month is “A New Beginning. . . .”

 

Dr. Winters had several paragraphs about what the church was going to do in January. Then he followed it with the list of characteristics of God’s House, which I have included here:

 

Introduction: Jesus established the church to worship Him, to grow spiritually and numerically, and be a lighthouse in the community.

 

1.  1,   It is a place of ­praise. Psalm 100:4

Express warm approval or admiration of

 

2.   2.  It is a place of participation. Ps 100:2

Involvement

 

3.    3. It is a place of prayer. Acts 4:31

Communion with God

 

4.  4.   It is a place of provision. Mal. 3:10

Measure taken to provide for need/contingency

 

5.  5.   It is a place of preaching. II Timothy 4:2

Proclaiming truth

 

6.    6. It is a place of pondering. Psalm 111:2

Think and meditate deeply upon Scripture

 

7.   7.  It is a place of priority. Hebrews 10:25

Top of important list in your life

 

8.    8. It is a place of piety. I Timothy 6:6

Belief, trust in, loyalty to God, holiness

 

9.    9. It is a place of perseverance. I Cor. 15:58

Persistent in spite of difficulty or delay in achieving success

 

1110.  It is a place of Philadelphia. John 13:35

Brotherly love

 

1111.  It is a place of peace. II Cor. 13:11

Freedom from disturbance, tranquility

 

Thanks, Pastor Joel, for these important suggestions for starting the new year. Even if we don’t make resolutions, these are good places to start the new year. To you, your church, my church, and all of my readers, Shanah Tovah, which is Hebrew for “Have a good year!”