I am angry and sick and tired of empty, meaningless church services. Let me shock everyone with this statement. I am using caps for emphasis: THE PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH IS NOT TO WORSHIP GOD WITH LIP SERVICE BUT WITH ACTION! It is NOT to sing a few songs, listen to a message and go home. Yes, worship is important but it is only a very small part of what we are here for. First we must ask ourselves, what exactly is worship? The word most commonly used in the KJV means to prostrate oneself before God, something we hardly ever see in the church setting. There are eight different words in the NT describing worship. Here is what it is not. It is NOT singing a worshipful song then let's sing it again a little slower this time, then one more time in a soft, whispery tone. I'm sorry but that is NOT worship!
The act of worship can be described as an "outward expression of our faith in God". This can take many forms from singing and praying to actual works. Let's read a couple of verses from James. James 2:18 - "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works", and James 2:26 - "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also".
In the words of Christ, our main focus point of the church should be to "be about our Father's business". Church should be a combination of boot camp and strategy planning. We are part of God's army and it's time we started acting like it. As in all armies there is training needed. Every single believer in Christ has a purpose and a spiritual gift given by God to accomplish that purpose!
Did you know that? Do you know what your gift is? Have you been taught how to use it? Guess what? The role of a pastor is not that of the "man in charge"! It may not even be giving sermons or teaching lessons, there may be others in the congregation whose gift might make them better at those roles. The main focus of a pastor should be to aid and assist those in his care to reach their full potential within and without the church setting! Sometimes, if done correctly, their role would decrease so God, through the service of His Body, the church, may increase. I bet you've never heard that from your pastor. Most of them really don't like to share the spotlight, so to speak!
I believe this is one of the main reasons our youth are deserting the flock. They have never seen the Body of Christ in action. They have never seen common church members grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord and using their spiritual gifts within the church setting. This goes way beyond being an usher or a SS teacher. As in a regular army every person should use their gift for the betterment of the whole and as we become unified through the use of our gifts we, as a whole, get stronger and Satan's attacks begin to lose their efficiency.
The whole concept of church and what church should look and be like needs a reboot! When we stand before God, he is not going to care how many church services we went to or if we participated in the song service, etc. His question will be, How did you use the gift I gave you for my service? Read Matt. 25:14-30, the word talents here was a form of money but as you read these verses replace the word "talent" with "spiritual gift"! Then you might realize the importance of this topic and ask your pastor to start teaching on this vitally important topic. The listings and topic of spiritual gifts can be introduced by reading Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4.
The bible teaches us that Christ wants to return for a church without "spot or wrinkle" but right now we have more wrinkles than a national AARP convention and more spots than an elementary school full of kids with chickenpox!! The bible is full of verses about unity and being of one mind but because of all the various denominations we have the mind of a hospital full of people with multiple personality disorders all emphasizing their differences!! IT IS TIME TO CHANGE!
Let's go back to the military metaphor. Imagine what the Body of Christ could do if we really were of one mind celebrating what we have in common which is Christ and Him crucified for all of us. Think of each individual church as a small army "unit", if we combine all the individual churches in a community then we'll have a "company"! If you combine all the communities in a county then we have a "battalion"! If you combine all the counties in a state then we have a "regiment"! If you combined all 50 states together you have the unstoppable, unbeatable, mighty Army of God!!
All it takes is for the people of God, not the pastors, to come together and say this is what we want! Stop with all the division because when you think about it; everything that separates us here on earth will be absolutely meaningless in heaven so why wait until then, let's CHANGE NOW!
Time is short church, don't you think it's time we start, "being about our Father's business?!
The act of worship can be described as an "outward expression of our faith in God". This can take many forms from singing and praying to actual works. Let's read a couple of verses from James. James 2:18 - "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works", and James 2:26 - "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also".
In the words of Christ, our main focus point of the church should be to "be about our Father's business". Church should be a combination of boot camp and strategy planning. We are part of God's army and it's time we started acting like it. As in all armies there is training needed. Every single believer in Christ has a purpose and a spiritual gift given by God to accomplish that purpose!
Did you know that? Do you know what your gift is? Have you been taught how to use it? Guess what? The role of a pastor is not that of the "man in charge"! It may not even be giving sermons or teaching lessons, there may be others in the congregation whose gift might make them better at those roles. The main focus of a pastor should be to aid and assist those in his care to reach their full potential within and without the church setting! Sometimes, if done correctly, their role would decrease so God, through the service of His Body, the church, may increase. I bet you've never heard that from your pastor. Most of them really don't like to share the spotlight, so to speak!
I believe this is one of the main reasons our youth are deserting the flock. They have never seen the Body of Christ in action. They have never seen common church members grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord and using their spiritual gifts within the church setting. This goes way beyond being an usher or a SS teacher. As in a regular army every person should use their gift for the betterment of the whole and as we become unified through the use of our gifts we, as a whole, get stronger and Satan's attacks begin to lose their efficiency.
The whole concept of church and what church should look and be like needs a reboot! When we stand before God, he is not going to care how many church services we went to or if we participated in the song service, etc. His question will be, How did you use the gift I gave you for my service? Read Matt. 25:14-30, the word talents here was a form of money but as you read these verses replace the word "talent" with "spiritual gift"! Then you might realize the importance of this topic and ask your pastor to start teaching on this vitally important topic. The listings and topic of spiritual gifts can be introduced by reading Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4.
The bible teaches us that Christ wants to return for a church without "spot or wrinkle" but right now we have more wrinkles than a national AARP convention and more spots than an elementary school full of kids with chickenpox!! The bible is full of verses about unity and being of one mind but because of all the various denominations we have the mind of a hospital full of people with multiple personality disorders all emphasizing their differences!! IT IS TIME TO CHANGE!
Let's go back to the military metaphor. Imagine what the Body of Christ could do if we really were of one mind celebrating what we have in common which is Christ and Him crucified for all of us. Think of each individual church as a small army "unit", if we combine all the individual churches in a community then we'll have a "company"! If you combine all the communities in a county then we have a "battalion"! If you combine all the counties in a state then we have a "regiment"! If you combined all 50 states together you have the unstoppable, unbeatable, mighty Army of God!!
All it takes is for the people of God, not the pastors, to come together and say this is what we want! Stop with all the division because when you think about it; everything that separates us here on earth will be absolutely meaningless in heaven so why wait until then, let's CHANGE NOW!
Time is short church, don't you think it's time we start, "being about our Father's business?!
