If I see one more "self help" make me feel super fluffy and tingly Church group I just may throw up. Yes, I intend to be confrontational in this post. Yes, I intend to be "in your face". The fact of the matter is, where the heck is the American Church? Where are we in our community? Are we a presence? Are we a lighthouse that send out rescue boats? Or are we a club of people that sit in our buildings, maybe venture out now and then for parades or "outreach performances"? If we preach from our pulpits that the end times are what we are living in.. why then are we not RADICALLY reaching out and preaching the Gospel to anyone and everyone we meet? Why are we still content to just sit on our backsides and LISTEN about all the signs of us being in the end times. Is it just so we can make sure WE are ready for Jesus to return? I am going to say absolutely not! If that were true He would never have had to stay away so long. The disciples could have just sat there on that mountain for a few minutes have one of them stand up and talk about how they needed to make sure they were ready for Him to return and then.. He could have come back and taken them with Him. Jesus was PASSIONATE about the lost. He was PASSIONATE about making them FOUND. He spent His life here on earth being an example of how we should be. He never stayed inside a building and just talked about the kingdom of God and kept the truth from people. He walked among us and spoke the Truth of God to everyone He met. He was not afraid of the world. He was heartbroken for it. He died for it...for us.
I read this scripture this morning and pretty much this is what got me fired up.
Matt 9:10-13(MSG) Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew's house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus' followers. "What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riffraff?"Jesus, overhearing, shot back, "Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: 'I'm after mercy, not religion.' I'm here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders."
I am so sick of complacency.. I am PASSIONATE about people coming to Christ and I can't do that sitting around waiting for the church to pacify me and make me feel all good and fluffy. I need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable in this life.
I completely agree with every word you said! I feel it is even worse here in the south....churches are on every side of the street (literally) and there are homeless people sleeping outside on the church's benches, freezing. There needs to be a true revival in America. Christians in America are giving Christ a bad name - "Lazy".
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