on your children, friends and guests! Receiving these affirmative prayers can achieve more than listening to 20 sermons on a Sunday mornings. “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matt.6:33 ESV) “Where order is restored, blessing is released.” ~ Ps. Stovall Weems Dinner We believe that the church should truly be a fellowship, even a family of believers: a community that invites the lonely into families. Creating a weekly dinner tradition will not only heal, restore and strengthen the hosting families; it will also create family moments for singles and other church members who are lonely. On the Sabbath, we have the opportunity to open our homes to the Holy Spirit in a special way and invite friends, family and others over for dinner to receive the kind of peace that only He can bring. God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. (Psalm 68:6 NLT Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! (Psalm 34:8 ESV) The Sabbath in its original form starts with the Sabbath dinner on Friday evening and ends on Saturday evening at sundown. The Saturday should have a focus on rest, fellowship and recharging our batteries as well. This may look different for every individual. It is a time to count our blessings, enjoy life and the company of our family, and spend time in God’s presence. We understand that this might be challenging and might collide with our busy agendas, but we will feel the positive effect of it, whenever we seek to make it work. Priests and kings The Bible calls us believers “royal priests” and even gives us a clear idea that we will reign with Jesus in future. Have you ever thought about that? But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9 ESV) And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth. (Rev.5:10 NLT) Often, we do not understand this aspect of complete adoption that also includes a transfer of divine authority. Jesus shares His power and kingship with us, and He wants us to reign with Him. Unbelievable! Bringing our homes under the Lordship of Jesus Christ is a very important step on this journey. As the leaders of our homes (whether in an “ideal” family setup or otherwise) we can make the same decision Joshua made in the Old Testament by saying: “But as for me and my house [=family], we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15b ESV) Celebrating the Sabbath is a powerful way to demonstrate that Jesus is the Lord of our households. It will enable us to raise our children in the reality of a living relationship with God and have them taste and see what that is like firsthand. We will also be connecting with other people and experience this time together as the family of God, where no-one needs to be alone. We are convinced that bringing this special time back into our homes will have a huge impact. It will bless our church, heal relationships, restore
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