The preacher was shaking hands with his congregants and saying goodbye after the Easter service. He grabbed one man by the hand and pulled him aside. “You need to join the Army of the Lord!” the preacher exhorted.

The man replied, “I’m already in the Army of the Lord, Pastor.”

Curious, the preacher asked, “How come I don’t see you except at Christmas and Easter?”

The man looked around cautiously and whispered back, “I’m in the Secret Service.”

We had record attendance at our Resurrection Day service this year, but on May 15, 28 days later, four Sundays after, everything was back to normal.

It’s tough in this post-Christian era to get people to see the value of coming to church after the two big holidays of Easter and Christmas. But a Christian without a church is like a student who won’t go to school, a soldier without an army, a citizen who won’t vote, a sailor without a ship, a drummer without a band, a ballplayer without a team or a bee without a hive.

A pastor asked a man why he didn’t go to church, and he replied, “I don’t go to church because every time I do they throw something at me.”

“What do you mean?” the preacher inquired.”

“Well,” the man explained, “When I was a baby, my parents took me to church, and the minister threw water on me. After I got married, they threw rice at me.”

The pastor answered the man impatiently, “And if you don’t start going to church soon, the next time you do, they’ll throw DIRT on you!”

There is no such thing as a churchless Christian. The Bible says that “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her….” Christ didn’t die for a building, he died for the people. He died for You.

I’m amazed that at the very first church, the people there “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common.”

This is not the case anymore despite the fact that we have nearly thirty churches in Blanco County.  Though there is a church just down the street from everybody, we’d all agree that most don’t attend a fellowship regularly.

Are you a Sunday-only believer? What difference has Christ made in your life? Are you bored because of the sermon? Have you been burned once or twice, so now you don’t go? Going to church is not something to be endured, but something to be enjoyed. Don’t you enjoy the fellowship of other believers, the corporate worship of our Savior, and the opportunity to give sacrificially for his Kingdom? Don’t you want to know how to better love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength through the preaching of his Word?

If not, then listen to the Apostle Paul’s warning: “Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith.”

With Jesus rising from the dead, don’t you think you can get out of bed?

Especially on Sunday?