Shalom to all and a special greeting to those of you who received this mail through friends who passed it on.

In Genesis chapter 1, we read that God completed His creation work in six days and that He rested on the seventh day; not that God was tired after all those work but that He wanted to set aside time for Himself to enjoy all that He had done. It is interesting that the Bible records that God said "it was good" when He looked at what He had created at the end of each day and at the end of the sixth day when He saw the man whom He had created, He said "it was very good". And then on the seventh day, God rested.

It is interesting that God was very pleased with the creation of man, as man was to be the crown of all His creation. Man was meant to enjoy everything that the Creator God had in store for him and when God rested on the seventh day, man was meant to join Him. So the moment that man was created, he was instructed to rest. The Jews have a special day each week to rest and they call it the Sabbath and it falls on Saturday, the last day of the week. The day was to be set aside to honor and worship God and to enjoy His love. However, the Pharisees of Jesus' day made it a "no-work" day such that nobody can do any form of work even to cook a meal or to help someone who is in trouble.

Jesus was often accused of breaking the Sabbath rules by healing the sick on the rest day. And the Pharisees even plotted to kill Jesus for breaking their rules. Imagine they wanting to kill the Son of God for breaking a rule which man made up. Of course, try as they did, they could not succeed.

Now Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday, the first day of the week. He died on Friday and He was in the tomb for three days - Friday, Saturday and He rose on Sunday morning at daybreak. Now because He rose on Sunday, the Church started to worship Jesus on Sunday instead of the usual Sabbath (Saturday). It is to remember His resurrection that the church kept that tradition. Jesus introduced a new beginning for us. We rest first before we start the week while the Jews rested at the end of their workweek (and the tradition is still being kept in Israel to this day).

But why do we need to rest? You know, man is created such that our bodies need one day to rest so that we can be rejuvenated for the week. Medical doctors have realized that our heart beats slower one day in the week; otherwise it will just give up beating altogether. Have you ever felt very tired or lethargic on Monday when you had to work on Sunday doing overtime? Well, our bodies are giving us a signal; listen to that signal for your own good.

So if Sunday is to be a rest day, then does that mean we can lie in bed for the whole day and sleep it out? After all, plenty of 'beauty sleep' relaxes all those aching bones, right? Well, I am not sure about that. For one thing, I feel more tired after taking an afternoon nap no matter which day it is. And I tried to sleep extra hours when I am on vacation but I find that it is counter-productive; I actually needed more time to recover from my extra rest. Our bodies are very strange - too little rest and we feel exhausted, tired; too much sleep and we feel lethargic. Then what are we meant to be doing on our rest-day?

For us believers, this is the day we will be spending worshipping the Lord together as a church. Yes, we can worship God any day and at any time. However, there is certain special anointing that flows when all the believers get together and worship the Lord together. If you turn your Bibles to John 20: 19 - 29 we have a very special record of what happened on that same Easter Sunday evening that Jesus rose from the dead.

19. Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be with you."

20. When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

21. So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."

22. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

23. "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

24. Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.

25. The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord." So he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."

26. And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace to you!"

27. Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing."

28. And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"

29. Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Jesus chose to appear before His disciples to assure them that He has risen and to bless them. That is precisely what He does to the Church whenever the believers meet together. Now I am not saying that Jesus does not appear to us individually or to bless us individually. However, there are certain additional blessings whenever the corporate body of the church meets. For one, there is a time of mutual encouragement among the believers. Also there are times of great healing whenever the Body of the Church worships together. Again, not that the Lord does not heal when we worship Him alone but the anointing is greater in a corporate context.

Thomas missed that first Sunday evening service and lets see what happened to Him. We nicknamed Thomas as "Doubting Thomas" because he wanted to see proof before he could believe. Yes, the rest of them saw Jesus in the flesh and they saw His nail-prints and the hole in the side of His body. That was the best object lesson that anyone could ask for. They learnt very quickly that the same Jesus whom they saw on Friday hung and died on that cross is now alive and that whatever He had been teaching them about Himself is true after all. Just one sighting of Jesus in the flesh convinced them that the same Jesus who made all those claims about Himself is indeed Who He said He was - the Son of the Living God and that there is hope after physical death for them.

Our Lord is a gracious God. He could have said, "Thomas deserved it; since he was not there on that first occasion, too bad" but Jesus chose to appear to His disciples again the following Sunday when they were together. I believe Jesus wanted all His disciples to be convinced, well grounded, perfectly assured of the reality of His resurrection. That is why He singled out Thomas and addressed him personally in that meeting. What a lesson Thomas learnt that Sunday. What anointed teaching Jesus gave.

Now, just in case some in our midst believe that as long as one believes in Jesus, he/ she need not join other Christians in church to worship and to learn of God's grace for us, let me point out the benefits he/ she will miss out by not being there.
Corporate worship lifts up our spirits. When the whole church sings and worships the Lord as one voice, it lifts our spirits. How else can we worship the Lord when we can only sing in one pitch?

Corporate sharing builds up the believer. Whenever the believers meet together, they share the Lord's blessings with the group and this encourages the faith of the rest.
Corporate anointing for healing takes place. I have on various occasions experienced healing for my aching body and once when I was healed of an eye problem back in 1993 during the church service. Of course I had received healing as well when I was alone praying and asking the Lord for it. But the numerous occasions when I see with my own eyes and hear with my own ears fellow believers testifying how the Lord had touched their sick bodies and given the healing, my faith in the Lord leapt.

Corporate teaching flows through. It is always exciting for me to listen to the pastor teach from the Bible. There are always nuggets of revelation which try as I may, I know I would not see it the way the pastor explained them. Personal bible-study does build one's spiritual life but when one sits at the feet of an anointed teacher, the understanding grows by leaps and bounds.

Corporate giving produces great blessings. When the church collects an offering and uses the money to bless others in return, the Lord honors our tithes and will bless us all the more.

The writer of the Book to the Hebrews in Hebrews 10: 23 - 25

23. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

24. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,

25. not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the Day approaching.

The Lord Jesus is coming back very soon and we need to constant meet to encourage and to stir each other up in faith. The devil obviously does not like this. He would like to see as many Christians feeling miserable as possible. He hates to see bright and cheery Christians; that would really torment him.

So my friends, make every excuse, every opportunity to meet together so that you can be a "stir-er" of someone else's faith and at the same time have your faith level strengthened and increased. Don't stay out of circulation for too long.

And now
The Almighty God, El Shaddai, blesses and keeps you;
The Lord Jesus makes His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
The Lord Most High lift up His countenance upon you, and give you His shalom peace.

Shalom,
Andrew L W Lee

Dated : 17 November 2001