i meet a lot of different people in my starbucks’ times. i met 2 very interesting people this morning. the lady asked me to come to her church sometime. the man is an older italian gentleman that i really enjoyed talking with. he is a very interesting man who cares about people. he is a catholic man but who helps the vineyard church just around the block pass out food to needy people every saturday. but i have another friend who comes in during the week who is a retired port authority cop who has no interest in spiritual things. he sees no value whatsoever in going to church.
i understand the negatives about church. we have gotten away from why GOD started the church and somehow we need to get back to it. and i glad that i am a part of a church that wants to be what GOD intended it to be. it is exciting.
now psalm 73:16-17 deals with one of the main reasons for the church and why we go to church, why i go to church. the new international version says it this way, i tried to think this problem through but it was too difficult for me until i went into your temple.
the message, still, when i tried to figure it out, all i got was a splitting headache (could this be why so many people have headaches today? they are trying to figure it all out on their own)…until i entered the sanctuary of GOD. then i saw the whole picture.
when you worship, GOD uses getting together with other believers to help you clarify things that are going on in your life.
that's why i hate to miss church. even when margaret and i go on vacation, we go to church and GOD always speaks to us.
listen, i don't go to church out of guilt, habit, because somebody forces me to, because of a ritual. i go to find out if GOD has anything to say to me. almost every one of the major decisions in my life, many of the major turning points in my life, happen when i was in a church service. before i went that day i had no idea what was going to happen. but because i went, i heard something from the bible and it made a change in me, a major decision.
i don't know when those are going to happen so i go to church whenever i can. what if GOD had that speaker or that message just for me, what if i didn't show up? so, on the possibility that he might want to speak to me any particular week, i show up.
as a minister when i got up to speak, i would give a general word from the LORD. i would share something that GOD would give to me to share but then as i shared it the HOLY SPIRIT would then give a specific word for each individual there that was just for them but if they weren’t there they would miss it.
i want to know what GOD has to say to me about the life that i am living today so i am not going to miss church. this is one way that GOD uses to let me see how to handle the specific problems that i am going through.
so i am getting off my front porch and i’m going to go get ready to go hear what GOD wants to say to me today…
5 comments:
See Bill again it seems like you've made some pretty absolute statements about God here.
Yet in my last post after reading your blog I asked a question about the church that does not do what God wants. Your reply was:
"I'm not the Judge..."
So how can you make any statements of absolutism without first possessing some kind of Judgement for what God does not want.?.?.?
Don't get me wrong here, I think you just threw back a response because your porch is more of a pulpit than a porch and usually preachers don't like to discuss, they like to speak.... I get it. BUT let's get real for a second Bill:
I agree with you but the question is what about the church that does not follow the will of God?
The church that has turned away?
I can only assume that you go to the congregation that you speak of but I don't. I go to a church that spends all it's money building larger buildings and that church spends over 90% of it's money in house... bills bills bills. Not to mention how many of the Nazarene churches out there are actually owned by banks? Which of those does God own?
My opinion is that the Church is not what it is supposed to be and we as 'ministers' of the Gospel need to get back to the real commissioning not just some pseudo-ministry of Joel Olsteen 'Warm and fuzzy' teachings.
By the way... I'm heading out to "church" too in just a minute, I do every week.
stephen, i appreciate your frustration with the church. i really do. i believe that we as the church have gotten away from CHRIST's purpose which was to seek and to save those who were lost. now i also believe that the church is not a building. i believe the church is people and you and i if we are followers of CHRIST are the church so we are judging ourselves. the building is just a method to reach people and in some areas you need expensive building to do that. the key is to do what JESUS began to do. now HE used the temple and it was expensive so it seems we need to be careful in that area. just some thoughts.
today was one of those mornings. the baby was up late. baby woke up early. didn't get enough sleep. tired. the desire to go to church was there, but just wanted to lay in bed. finally juggling around with getting ready, we were too late to attend the church we have been going to lately, so we made it to a church that we used to attend.
and just as you said, God had a message waiting for me. the pastor was talking about change. how all the leaves on his tree had fallen off due to the winter weather. the tree was barren. now that the weather is getting warmer and the ground has begun to dry from all the rains, the tree has one tiny bloom on it. and in due time, the tree will be covered in blooms, will flourish and thrive.
i really related that to our current situation. the leaves on our "tree" are falling off. we are going through a season of change. our lives are very different than just last year. but this change is necessary. God wants our lives to be transformed.
so we are weathering this change. it is hard, i won't deny that. even though the tree is barren, it is still a living thing. we need to make sure that the tree is still cared for: water, sunlight, fertilizer. we cannot neglect the tree or it will die.
soon after all the leaves have fallen, our tree WILL bloom again. our tree will stand a little taller, a little stronger, a little greener than before... because it was able to weather the storm. because WE were able to hold strong, faithfully knowing and trusting that God has a plan for us.
:) some thoughts here from our kitchen
kristen, that was awesome. i really do believe that GOD honors faithfulness. and HE will and is honoring your's. i appreciate what you said. just hold steady. the flower that GOD has given you will blossom under your care and your faithfulness. the blossom of your marriage, the blossom of your child, the blossom of your love. i love you and believe in you and hurt for you.
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