I have become disenchanted with church, folks. I am not blasting you or your church but the church in general when I say that we are so surface and shallow in our worship. We have become the local social or country club and we have lost our saltiness. We are fighting over the nonessentials. Our little church is even suffering from this. We have some that just want to fight to the death over what kind of music we worship to. We have some that just want the fellowship and not the in-depth study. They want coffee and donuts but please don't tell them about Hell. Let's not talk about Satan and sin. We have many members that are just playing church. We are biting each other over every little thing. We are plugging into Doogie Howser MDiv (Caner's words not mine) and living on cotton candy. It is so disheartening to enter the church each week. There is so much wrong with church today. I won't go into the emergent vs. traditional or the contemporary vs. traditional or even the new vs. the way we have always done it mentality. I don't even think that is the real problem. It is not about methodology or how much you work that brings people in. It is not about how eloquent the sermon is even. If truth is being preached people will be saved and changed. If God grabs hold of someone none of it matters. I have been to churches where the preacher preached on tithing and a person heard that Jesus loved him somewhere in the midst of it and got saved. God can do what He wants folks!!! He can even use a purpose driven pastor (and He does)
All of the bickering is merely the symptom of a much deeper problem in our churches. The real problem is that people do not have a relationship with God. They are so busy attending their little Bible studies and women's meetings that they don't even know how to study on their own at home. They are too busy becoming "intellectuals for the Lord" to hear Him. They are busy playing the "I am better than you" game. They have no idea who God is and what He says but they are fellowshipped to death. They are so busy doing things for the church and attending things at the church that they do not really just stop and listen to God anymore. They are so busy reading books ABOUT God to read the book written BY God. It has to stop!!!
I know because I have been guilty of this. We are filling our days with praise and worship music from the local Christian radio station, cds and tapes and filling our downtime with television even when it is Christian broadcasting and we are listening to fluffy feel good garbage when we do that we are not really being obedient to that passage of scripture that says...
Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
Are we so afraid of getting close to people that we are even pushing God away? Oh, I see society has changed very much from the time I was a child. We used to sit on our porches and know the people that lived around us. Now, we shut our doors and hide inside or we are so busy running we have no time to even meet the neighbors much less know if they are lost and hurting. We push everyone aside and now we do it to God, too. We are too stubborn to let down that guard and let God in - really let Him see us for what we are. Guess what??? He already knows what we are. That is why Jesus died on that cross. The thing about God is that He is gently calling and waiting on us to do one thing. Back to Psalm 46:10 - Be still and know Him...
I want to share something I learned this week about this verse. The word that is translated Be still (and it is translated stop fighting in the CSB) really means DROP IT. What is it talking about? It merely says drop it... Drop what you are doing and listen. In our society and in our churches we are so busy we cannot hear God. He wants us to drop it!!! Drop it all and just sit in His presence for awhile. Shut up and listen. Turn it off and listen. Stop your infernal service and sit still for a bit and listen!!!!! Choose what is the better part just as Jesus told Martha to do. Sit at His feet. Shut it all down and sit in the quiet and listen. Here is a beautiful example from Elijah...
1 Kings 19:11-12
11 So He said, "Go forth, and stand on the mountain before the LORD." And behold, the LORD was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. 13 And it came about when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
1 Kings 19:11-13 (NASB77)
It is in the quiet, ladies, that we hear God best. I speak these words because God has disciplined me this week about it all. I am going to be wrapping my face in my mantle and listening for His voice. I long to hear Him speak to me in the quiet gentle blowing (translated also still small voice) Lord, here I am...
Posted by 
Posted by Anonymous
Posted by 
Posted by 