Word for the day: Honour – Pastor Chris Olusegun Onayinka

Honour is to treat as different from others.
It means in a very respectful and reverential way. The Christian must know things that are regarded as sacred in his faith.
He must recognize people who MUST be regarded and honoured in our lives.
• Our Leaders- Ministers. They must be treated with honour. It’s not about the personalities. It’s about the Office they occupy. Their work must be seen as the platform for honour and respect.
• Our Brethren- Fellow believers must be regarded as sacred. We must show it everywhere Mostly amongst the unsaved. I must treat fellow Christians with respect and reverence.
Moreover, I must treat the Church itself as sacred. By the Church I refer to the gathering. The assembly. The Meetings. The activities. The events.
Let’s look through the Scriptures.
Matthew18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
This is the Church assembly. When we gather in His name. In His authority. For His sake.
HE IS THERE!
Hence the explanations of the epistles
1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
This refers to the assembly. It has replaced the Temple of buildings. We are collectively the Temple of God.
Ephesians 2:21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
We are God’s habitation. We perform this function when we assemble together.
Having said this, we ought to know our gathering is not casual. It’s not flimsy. It’s not trivial. God is there.
This forms the basis for Paul’s teaching on the subject.
1 Timothy 3:15…you may know how people ought to conduct themselves in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and stay (the prop and support) of the Truth.
There is a way to behave in the house of God!
We must treat His house with honour. We must treat it with respect.
Jesus warned against disorderly conduct in His house
Mark 11:17 And He taught and said to them, Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you have turned it into a den of robbers.
It’s a house of prayer. Not business deals. Not political campaigns. We must watch it.
You don’t rearrange a man’s furniture/ house for Him! You don’t change His desired purpose in the name of expediency. If you respect Him, you treat His house the way He wants it!
We must behave ourselves. We must act respectfully in His house.
1 Corinthians 14:40 But all things should be done with regard to decency and propriety and in an orderly fashion.
Decency- This is respectfulness. Regarding the House as a place of honour and worship is important.
We hardly know this, these days.
We arrive late for services. We walk in majestically while the teaching is going on. We distract more serious participants. When did this horror start?
Where were you when the prayers in that service started? Why did not you participate in the praise and worship? Why do we pick which part of the service we want to join in? Who do we think we are? Whose house is it? Who do we offer the prayers unto? Who is the worship unto?
This MUST stop!
Back then, the church doors were shut at some time. You couldn’t enter. You were late. The service is on!
With the advent of seeker-sensitive, user-friendly services came irreverence. It’s no longer about God but us! Arrant nonsense! It’s His Church!
We rush to work to beat and meet deadlines but we stroll into services because we don’t care. Who can sack us? We are deceived! God can! We are rendered useless. We lack honour!
We must also treat the activities in the service with respect.
We must come with good bibles and good writing pads/notes.
Church is a school- a place for bible study. I frown against the ungodly use of projectors, where scriptures are displayed. We are breeding trouble. Why project it on the screen if you really want them to study it?
People must be told to have bibles- To read them; to study them.
Your conduct in God’s house must show you know He is right there.
Answering calls during the service is outright disregard for the service. We must show we know where we are!
We avoid the use of our phones during important meetings and places. We don’t use our phones before important people. Yet we loosely think the church deserves less respect.
Church pastors should stop worshiping its members. We must worship God!
1 Corinthians 11:22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
We must not reduce His house to casual secular places. The minute we gather, God is there. We must be worshipful in our behaviour.
Do we despise the Church? Do we treat punctuality with levity?
Do we act anyhow in Church service? Do we make noise and cause distractions in the meetings?
We are out of order. This is dishonour!
Let’s change our behaviour and inculcate honour and respect into ALL we do in the house of God!

Clear? I behave and conduct myself with the Fear of God in The House of God! Have we blissful day.
Jesus is Lord,We win!