Open Heaven 16 January 2022 Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye –Topic: RETURNING TO THE HOME CHURCH MODEL
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Open Heavens 2022
Date: 2022-01-16
Topic: RETURNING TO THE HOME CHURCH MODEL
Memory Verse: Colossians 4:15 – Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house. Colossians 4:15
Bible Reading: Romans 16:3-5
Message: The Home Church model is the oldest form of worship centers right from the Old Testament days. It should be recalled that what is now known as Abrahamic faith in at least three notable religions of the world started as a family mode of worship. The Bible tells of how the Abrahamic faith started within the household of Abraham in Genesis 18:19. It is equally interesting to note that when the New Testament Church was born, it was within a household at the Upper Room (Acts 1:13). This was where all the earliest apostles were residing when the New Testament Church was inaugurated by coming of the Holy Ghost.
Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus: …Likewise greet the church that is in their house… Romans 16:3,5.
Therefore, adopting the Home Church model is going back to the basics. The Home Church model has been proven to be beneficial right from the birth of the Church and all the hostility from the world against it. The blessings accruing from this model are innumerable but we shall mention some of the spiritual ones today.
To start with, putting a Church in your house in the form of a House Fellowship Centre is like putting the Ark of the Covenant there and it brings abundant blessings like in the case of Obededom in 2 Samuel 6:10-11. Obededom became a national celebrity to the extent that even King David envied him and hurriedly took the Ark away from his household. The good news is that no one can take the Church away from you as long as you allow Jesus to remain in your house.
Corporately speaking, the Home Church model enhances all-round growth of the Church. Spiritually, members of the House Fellowship and by extension, of the Church are well-groomed since they would be properly taken care of. This model discourages the loss of souls in the multitude of the bigger mother-Church. As we can see from the Scriptures we reviewed above, the Home Church model is a design from God and we must all return to it.
Beloved, decide to use your home as a sub-unit of the bigger Church today and you would be richly blessed by so doing in Jesus’ name.
Hymn: Nearer, My God To Thee
Points: Father, please qualify my home as worthy to be a custodian of Your Church, in the mighty name of Jesus.
Bible in one year: Genesis 46, Genesis 47, Genesis 48
Title: Nearer, My God to Thee.
Chorus: null.
1. Nearer, my God to Thee,Nearer to Thee;
E’en though it be a cross
That raiseth me,
Still all my song shall be,
Nearer, my God, to Thee,(2ce)
Nearer to Thee!
2. Though, like the wanderer,The sun gone down,
Darkness be over me,
My rest a stone,
Yet in my dreams I’d be
Nearer, my God, to Thee,(2ce)
Nearer to Thee
3. There let the way appearSteps unto heaven;
All that Thou send’st to me
In mercy given;
Angels to beckon me
Nearer, my God, to Thee,(2ce)
Nearer to Thee
4. Then with my waking thoughtsBright with thy praise,
Out of my stony grief
Bethel I’ll raise;
So by my woes to be
Nearer, my God to thee,(2ce)
Nearer to Thee!
5. Or if on joyful wingCleaving thy sky,
Sun, moon, and stars forgot,
Upwards I fly
Still all my songs shall be,
Nearer my God to thee,(2ce)
Nearer to Thee!
Open Heavens 2021 Daily Devotional guide was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer’s Ministries. The Open Heavens devotional application is available across all mobile platforms and operating systems: iOS, Android, Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Mobile and PC.
