SLEEPING IN TRAINING?
MEMORISE: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:1 Peter 5:8
READ: Acts 20:7 -12
7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
8 And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together.
9 And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.
10 And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.
11 When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed.
12 And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.
MESSAGE
Apostle Paul was preaching while a young man named Eutychus was sleeping. Our attention however is not on Paul but on Eutychus. Here was a greatly anointed man of God preaching and he was sleeping. It may look like something to judge him for, but there are many like Eutychus in the Church today. Many people go to the Church today and sleep throughout the service. They may not be closing their physical eyes, but their spiritual eyes are closed. Some workers are sleeping spiritually while the anointing is flowing. John 7:38-39 says:
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
The rivers referred to in the Scripture above is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit flows like a river. When He is moving, if you are not conscious of His presence and paying attention, He will flow past you and you would miss your miracle. Anyone who saw Eutychus and the others leaving the service the next morning would have thought that they were blessed and fully charged spiritually, not knowing that some of them like Eutychus slept off during the meeting and were leaving just the same way that they came. This is why many people keep attending powerful crusades and life changing services but their lives have remained the same.
Sometimes, the organizers of these services are the ones who actually make it easy for people to sleep when they should be fellowshipping. When you decorate the Church and it look like art gallery, people would be appreciating the art rather than connecting with the Lord. The Church is a place of intimate fellowship with God so let the environment foster that more than anything else. That is why we decorate our Church auditoriums in The Redeemed Christian Church pf God with Scriptures. Everywhere you turn, there is a Bible verse that will catch your attention because we want you to be focused on God and nothing else.
KEY POINT
Church services play a major role in equipping you for all-round success; don't sleep in training.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Psalm 79-82
HYMN 16: O GOD OUR HELP IN AGES PAST
1. O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home:
2. Beneath the shadow of thy throne,
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.
3. Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting thou art God,
To endless years the same.
4: A thousand ages in thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
5 Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.
6. O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be thou our guide while troubles last,
And our eternal home!
