Acts 2:40-47 And with many other words he (Peter) solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation!" So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. ….. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
Do we not yet realize how precious a true expression of the church is to our Lord? We have become so conditioned to the “modern” expression of Christianity, that we have forgotten what it is supposed to look like. Where is our sense of “awe” and fear of the Lord? Do we truly devote ourselves to the teaching of the word or are we just showing up to church? Also, where are the conversions? Where are the signs and wonders? Where is the hand of God? You may be thinking, “This is not for us today.” or “You are just too idealistic; come down from the clouds and back into reality. We have more sophisticated ways of reaching people now. We are really pulling down strongholds...God is working, the church as a whole in America is advancing….We have many brilliant programs and so many cutting edge conferences today….We are making progress.” My reply to you is “No we’re not. We are building bigger buildings and creating more places for people to sit around. We are crammed with countless church activities while the real work of the church, that of evangelism, goes entirely neglected. We may be becoming more elegant and sophisticated here in America, but it is simply a cover up for the decay of the Spirit’s power in our midst.”
You see, spiritual goals can only be accomplished by spiritual people who use spiritual methods. If we want to see God move and experience His presence and power in our churches today, we need to do one thing– repent! Repent of the sin stained hands that we lift in hypocrisy when we worship. Repent of our lack of the fear of the Lord. Repent of our lack of compassion for the lost and neglect of evangelism. Repent of trying to use the Holy Spirit to provide more power for our programs. No, I am not saying that programs are bad. However, when they are used to replace prayer and fasting; when we spend more time trying to be cutting edge than in prayer, that is when we have missed it. My point is that man made efforts will never accomplish God sized results. I submit to you that if we want to see awakening in this city and in this country it will not come through organizing a new program, it will not come through building more buildings; it will not come through trying to become more cutting edge. It will come through repentance and a return to the Lord. It will come when we realize how far away from God we have gotten; how mediocre and lukewarm we have become, and out of disgust over our present condition and a desire to see God glorified, we weep and lament and mourn and cry out to God to be zealous for His name and restore His glory again among His people.
Is anyone listening? Does anyone hear the voice of the Lord crying for His church to return to Him. Forsake your wicked deeds! Plow up the fallow ground! When will you come to your senses and stop sinning? Take your Christianity personally and return to the Lord. Humble your self before God in prayer and say, “God, I know I have prostituted myself to other things! But I lay here before you with nothing to offer you but my utter rebellion against you. Have mercy on me for your names sake! Here is my life, get all the glory you can out of this sinner saved by grace!”
Bro. Jared
1 comment:
I read this and I can see myself as I was...in blind open rebellion against God without any knowledge of my utter depravity. Praise God for His breaking of me and for bringing me to repentance! It seems that too often, "The Church" as a whole is too lukewarm and lazy to get out of their seats to go out and reap the harvest of the God they claim to love. I used to be one of those "Christians" that only claimed to be one because I went to church, but now I claim the blood of Jesus Christ as my protection from the wrath to come! I have discovered that being a Christian is to have a true vision of the Holiness of the God of the universe, to be in awe of the work of His mighty hands, to praise Him in ALL things (whether good or bad), and to spend time with Him and in His Word on a daily basis. When I consider how weak the "modern" message of Christianity has become, I am disgusted at what I hear and am also amazed that so many people actually love to have their itching ears tickled with promises of prosperity, happiness and wealth. How sad it has become that the church going person wants to be "entertained" by their church and will openly complain when they don't like what they hear out of the pulpit. If the church would concentrate on preaching the Word and discipleship (isn't this what Jesus did?) wouldn't it rise in knowledge and obedience to God? Instead of trying to "bring new converts in," the church needs to go out and get them and then to baptize them and train them to obey the teachings of Jesus(Matthew 28:19-20). Thank you for this blog. We all need to be reminded of who we are and what we are supposed to be doing. God bless you.
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