I have mixed feelings about stopping on time.  I am very defensive of the preacher who needs a few more minutes to complete the case he is building on the Lord’s behalf.  On the other hand, I am sympathetic with the folks who have another commitment soon after the time they reasonably assume the service should end.

When I was just getting starting in the pastoral ministry, I had the attitude that I would just preach until I got finished, and that people ought to just sit there and listen until I did.  I said that to a pastor of a much larger church, and he said, “If you ever preach on TV, you’ll quit on time, or they’ll cut you off.”  I began noticing some TV preacher that I considered to be very good preachers, and they never got cut off in the middle of their sermon, they brought it to an effective end just as their air time ended.  I realized that the Holy Spirit can work through planning.  It is not unspiritual to know what you are going to say, before you get up to say it.

On the Day of Pentecost, they had prayed for seven days, they preached for three minutes, and three thousand people got saved.  There may be a lesson in there, that you need to pray more, and you don’t have give people an endurance test with your preaching.  Even the Apostle Paul put Eutycus to sleep, when he preached on and on.  I really don’t want to put them to sleep.

Have you ever been to a church service where they didn’t begin on time?  If you went to a movie or a sporting event, you would expect it to begin at the advertised starting time.  I was invited to preach at a church, on one occasion, and when the time came to begin, I noticed there weren’t many people there, and the pastor made no move to start the service.  About five minutes after time to start, I asked the pastor what time we were supposed to start, and he said, “Let’s wait until a few more come in.”  It was about ten more minutes before we began the service, and people were dwindling in all the way up to that time, and even beyond that time.

This pastor had trained his people that they really didn’t need to get there at the advertised starting time, because it wasn’t going to start then, anyway.  He was rewarding people who came late and punishing people who came on time.  The final crowd that gathered only took up a fraction of the seating, and I believe the hap-hazard approach to getting things started had something to do with the poor attendance.

Starting on time is also extremely important in small group gatherings, such as Bible Study.  Guests will usually arrive a little bit early for small group gatherings, because they don’t want the attention that comes with walking in late.  Sitting in a small group, where you don’t know the people, making small talk that you have no connection with, is a very uncomfortable thing.  This may be why many people don’t come back for a second visit.  They went for Bible teaching, but they got everything else.

I have found that when people know what time the service is going to begin, they will be much more likely to be there at that time.  Not only that, but church is important enough to be treated as something important.

The fasting growing group in America is the elderly.  The insurance and medical industries have developed plans and programs especially designed for this group.

Churches have an open door of opportunity for developing approaches that will specifically minister to this group.  Just as youth groups often need to be divided into younger and older groups, the same is true with senior adult ministry.

Just as parents and grandparents will appreciate and be drawn to the church that ministers to children, so will children and grandchildren appreciate and be drawn to churches that minister to their elderly.

There is really only God, but there are many gods.  In the Bible, when God’s people turn to gods, it is called Spiritual adultery.

In the Old Testament, the gods were called, “Baal,” “Ashteroth,” etc.  Today, they are more commonly called, “401K,” “Evinrude,” “Spalding,” “Chocolate,” etc.  Anything other than God, that you turn to for comfort and security is a god.  A major message of the Bible, is for God’s people to put away their idols and turn fully to God.

Don’t settle for lesser gods, because you don’t have to.  The Lord God invites you to a personal, vibrant, intimate relationship with Himself.  In this relationship, you will find satisfaction for your soul, and every need of your life will be met in Christ Jesus, according to His riches in glory.

There are people who think the devil and demons are nothing more than folklore and fairy tales, but Jesus certainly believed in the devil and demons, therefore, we would do well to take the matter seriously, also.

Demons possessed certain people in the Bible, and there is no reason to think they have changed their methods of operation.  Why do some people live such ungodly and contrary lives?  Why can they not understand the damage they are doing to themselves and others?  It is reasonable to assume demon possession.

A genuine, born again individual cannot be possessed of demon, because He is possessed of the Holy Spirit; however, he can be oppressed by demons, which looks very similar from the outside.  This happens when a child of God fails to adorn the whole armor of God, as is instructed in Ephesians 6, and the “fiery darts” of the wicked one are not quenched, but instead bring confusion, chaos, and fear into the Christian’s life.  The manifestations of these things may be sickness, immorality, destructive behavior, and the like.  That is why one touch from Jesus can fix things in a person’s life, that human methods would deal with for very long periods of time, and still might never provide lasting results.

One of the primary ways that people open the door to demonic activity in their life, is a way that they least think about, and that’s by the words they say.  The devil and demons are not mind readers, but they are very good listeners.  When Christians complain and speak negatively, it is an open invitation for demonic activity to find a foot-hold.

A child of God can command demons to leave, in the name of Jesus.  Mark 16:17 says those who have believed will cast out demons in the name of Jesus.  We do not have to have an exorcist, like in the movies, we simply need to take charge over our own lives, in Jesus name, and command the demonic spirit to leave us.  Then, immediately, we must fill that void with the praise, adoration, and surrender to the Lord Jesus.  Matthew 12:43-45 says, “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, it passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and does not find it.  then it says, ‘I will return to my house from whence I came;’ and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order.  Then, it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that men becomes worse than the first…”   God has provided everything we need for life and godliness, but it is in His word; therefore, we must know and obey His word.  It is God’s intention that His people be free indeed.