“HOW TO HAVE HOME CHURCH”

-The church is not the building; it is Christ in the hearts of people.

-A relational church is much more significant than an event-driven church.

-Staying connected in Godly encouraging small groups has been a LIFE-LINE for many during COVID-19.

The 2 commandments: LOVE GOD AND LOVE EACH OTHER are experienced in Life groups.

Text: Acts 2:46-47

Many have believed that we go to church to experience the Lord’s presence, and then we take it home with us.

• However, our goal and desire is to make our home a place where Jesus can live and feel welcomed and invited. “Holy Spirit thou art welcome in this place.”
• Children need to feel the presence of the Lord at church, but more importantly in our homes.
• THEREFORE: HOME WORSHIP MUST BECOME A TOP PRIORITY.

POINT: There must be a viable process in the home for worshipping separate and different than Sunday and Wednesday.

This doesn’t replace assembling ourselves together as the whole church, however REAL LASTING REVIVAL cannot come without the home church.

Because of COVID-19, we have a great chance to get it right.

Joshua 24:15, “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”

• What does it look like for your home to serve God?
• What does it look like for your home to welcome God’s presence?
• What does it look like for your home to worship God?

TOP TEN LIST FOR DOING CHURCH AT HOME ON SUNDAYS

1. Set your time for worship.
-Announce to your family what time you are going to worship.

-Our YouTube goes live at 9 am, but you can worship at 10, 11 or at noon.

-Just set a time in your home.

2. Observe a normal Sunday church schedule in your home.

-Get up, get dressed, like you normally would.

3. Set the atmosphere in your home.

-Turn your phones and laptops off. Get your Bibles out.

4. When Pastor Ben is leading worship, stand in your living room with him.

-Lift your hands, and create a worship experience.

-Mom and Dad, you set the example.

-If your kids never see you worship at home, they won’t have the desire.

5. When the prayer time occurs pray for your requests out loud in your home.

-You can assign people in your family to pray for certain requests.

6. If it is offering time, go ahead and prepare your offering like normal.

7. Follow along in your Bibles with the message, make notes.

-You can also download message notes.

8. When the message is concluded stand in your living room with me.

9. During the altar time, make commitments to the Lord together as a family.

10. After the service is concluded, sit and share together as a family about what you experienced.

-Talk about the impact of the worship and the message.

REMEMBER: God has a purpose for your home.

• God wants your house to be a haven of rest.
• The Home should be a rich atmosphere of love and acceptance.
• When the teacher (the Holy Spirit) is welcomed, He makes the word of God come alive in your heart, burning truth deeply into your spirit.

WHEN CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE IN THE HOME: There is peace, happiness, contentment, tranquility and great worship.

POINT: As a Pastor, I am interested in long-term fruit, not just the short-term euphoria of meeting together   1 – 3x’s per month. Having a limited, occasional 75-minute worship experience is not enough for spiritual growth.

Many times we behave differently in our homes, because of things in our homes that contaminate and pollute the atmosphere.

POINT: The anointing of the Holy Spirit will not stick to us when the climate of our homes is different than what we experience at Church.

 Acts 1:13; Romans 16:5; Acts 5:42

POINT: What we see in the New Testament is that worship at church and worship at home were really inseparable. They were linked in unison.

TOP TEN LIST FOR DOING CHURCH AT HOME – DURING THE WEEK

1. Announce to the family a regular daily time of worship in the home.

-This will strengthen you for the battles of life.

-Prayer must be more than praying at the dinner table.

2. Parents, grandparents you must lead this part by example and leadership.

-The prayer altar needs re-established in many homes.

-This will help make your house a place of Godly strength.

3. Commit to leaving bitterness and negativity on the outside of your home.

-Negativity will hurt the atmosphere and discourage you from praying.

4. Pray for your church regularly, and the leadership of your church.

-Your family needs to see the church as an important piece in the home, even when you are away

from the church.

5. Practice turning the TV off, and playing worship music in the house.

-This will help the atmosphere.

-I believe TV is one of the biggest problems for many Christians.

6. Keep a family prayer list.

-When issues and family needs arise, pray about them as a family.

-Teach your family to pray. Everyone can pray.

-It will add a powerful dimension to your home.

7. Learn to lay hands on each other in the family.

-When someone is discouraged in the family, allow the family to minister to the family.

8. When critical issues, pain, and grief are experienced – create an action plan to give it to the Lord as a family.

-Pray about it, but also publicly acknowledge in your family that you are giving it to the Lord.

9. Set a Sabbath day that it is SOLEY used for connecting with God and family.

-Sabbath is a reset for the week.

-Guard your Sabbath well.

10. Create a set of values for your home.

-“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” What does that look like?

-Worshipping God on Sunday, and cussing on Monday doesn’t work.

ILLUSTRATION: These practices will help keep your home protected. Like having your home sprayed and protected from termites. The chemical doesn’t actually kill the termites, it only stops them from coming closer to your home. The chemical injected into the ground is a “fence” to” keep the termites out. God’s presence in your home becomes a fence to outside foes. It infiltrates the very space of your walls, floors, and rooms. It is tangible and real!

John 14:25-27

THERE ARE TWO SANCTUARIES IN LIFE: God and the family.

• Words of revelation should fall frequently from your lips, as you speak freely about the fires of revival, and the, moving of God’s spirit in your home.
• We want our House to be sealed in peace. To be viewed as a place of refuge for the weary; a comfort to the oppressed.

Psalm 121:8

SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR HOME:

• Do you barely shut the door of your car after the Church service, before all “heck” breaks loose?
• Do you and your family constantly fight?
• Are temper-tantrums and fits of rage commonplace?
• Do you fill your children’s ears with cutting comments, belittling sarcasm?
• Do you fight over little issues, which you can’t even remember later?
• Do you have an atmosphere of fear in the home?
• Do you have a fear of your faith?
• Do you have a fear of relationships?
• Is there verbal and emotional abuse in your home?

POINT: Dismissing the problem is not the answer, but we must first admit that we have a problem. There may be a plague loose in your home.

• When we leave the environment of worship and surrender to God in our homes, the home environment either encourages or discourages God’s presence.
• We can often behave differently at home than at Church because of pollution, and contamination.

POINT: Change must be evident not in the 90 minutes that we are at Church, but it must be evident also in the homes.

Can I challenge you to commit to these changes?