The Most Important Service of the Year

Too many years ago, I spent a few weeks in Hammond, Indiana at the First Baptist Church of Hammond, then pastored by Dr. Jack Hyles.

As you might know, Dr. Hyles was a fundamentalist fundamentalist. There are lots of things that could be said about him - many of them true - but I did learn some things from my time there.

Maybe the most important concept I learned (along with some things I learned NOT to do) was this:

The Most Important Service of the Year

is the NEXT Service!

We are getting to a busy season of the year - Thanksgiving and Christmas. That is followed by an even busier time of the year when Florida's state bird - the Snow Birds - come down into warm and beautiful Florida. For those who don't know, "snowbirds" are those who have homes in the northern states but stay in Florida for varying lengths of time. Those of us who live here all year round have something of a love-hate relationship with them.

With that migration, crowds are bigger at church and the lines are longer in restaurants and gold courses. Naturally, we have plans for Christmas and for the season. So the tendency is to see these next 6 months as the most important time of the year.

But it isn't.

The most important service of the year is tonight at FBC, Osprey when we meet together for prayer and Bible study. The most important Sunday is this next Sunday. For our student ministry, the most important service is this weekend's "Disciple Now".

This one lesson has kept me relying on the Lord for strength for each day as well as each service. It has kept me from putting all my effort into a so-called BIG Sunday to the detriment of this Sunday.

Just as every Believer is special to God, every service ought to be special to us! Pardon me while I finish getting ready for the most important service of the year.