The week of a gospel meeting is a good time to contemplate our attendance. Even for us who attend church assemblies very regularly, we sometimes find our enthusiasm for worshiping the Lord waning, and because of that fact, our desire to attend services drops off a bit. Psalm 122:1 says, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord.’”
It may be that during this week you’ll find a lot of excuses for not attending the evening assemblies. A sure sign of a problem is when church assemblies at the gospel meeting become the last priority in a long list of daily activities. But there are a couple of benefits a gospel meeting can provide that will serve you well to think about today.
First, a gospel meeting can encourage us. An evangelist who preaches in a gospel meeting can provide good and edifying lessons that will foster spiritual thought and hopefully obedience within a Christian’s heart and life. There’s not one child of God who does not need a bit of motiving every once in a while. Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” One of the purposes of our worship is the stimulation to continue “fighting the good fight of faith” (cp. 2 Timothy 4:7). When you absent yourself from these services, you miss that much-needed encouragement.
Second, a gospel meeting can convict us. It may be that instead of encouragement, we need a good, to-the-point lesson that pulls no punches about a specific sin of which you cannot seem to repent. “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:1-2). Lots of hearts have been pricked and many lives have been changed by the bold proclamation of a gospel sermon that sets you quivering in your seat when you behold the justice and righteousness of God.
Whatever your need might be, it’ll be served by a good gospel meeting. But you must make the effort to be here and partake of the spiritual food being offered. You’ll never regret the time invested in worshiping and growing closer to the Lord.
Kyle Campbell