Satan the firefighter??

There are several thoughts here, missed a few days of meds so not as neat as usual :-)

Has the church, especially here in America, morphed from a New Testament church, to just a Christian or members only club?

Look at how the people in the church carry themselves. Do they go out of their way to welcome visitors, get their names, etc? OR Do they only speak or at least acknowledge the presence of those people they know already, leaving the strangers to the Pastor since he is the one getting paid for such things?

When there was a church event in years past it used to be a community event and there would be people attending said event that never entered the church building. And it was fun and fellowship for all.

There has been a decline in the outreach of the church (in general) that coincides with the political attacks made against her. She has been beaten and beaten by the devil and sin ruled people so hard that she has backed into a corner and just kept quiet…..FOR TOO LONG!!!!

There has been so much garbage going on in our world that we as the church, the bride of Christ, simply cannot allow this beating any longer. Thankfully over the recent few years, there has been a re-emergence of the church. She has regained her strength from the love and care of the Christ and the Holy Spirit. A sleeping giant has been awakened and she is not happy with what has taken place in her absence.

Much like the Israelites, when Moses left them to go up the mountain when he was given the 10 Commandments written with the very finger of God, and they lost themselves in revelry and sin, so have we as a “nation under God” lost ourselves in our sin and “freedom thinking”.

Because of the decline in the world and our society, and because we as Christians are getting outraged at the sin around us and that which we ourselves commit, we have misused the church as a place of Christian solace. A place where we can fellowship with other believers a couple times a week for a few minutes and feel safe, as if everything is ok; a place where people treat each other as they should all the time, everywhere. And because we have done this, we have forgotten about the outside world and those that so desperately want what we have. A safe place.

It is also because of this that many church leaders have been encouraging their congregations to remember where they came from. Remember the lost and dying. Remember that once we were as they are. Therefore, there has been another shift in the church lately. That of the involvement in outreach to the community, to the lost and dying, and involvement in every area of life.

What is the church? It is not just a building. It is not just the universal body of believers in the life, death, burial, and bodily resurrection of our Lord and Savior, the Son of the One and Only Living God, Christ Jesus. It is also every single believer. One of the purposes of the church is to spread the news of Jesus Christ to everyone. Another purpose of the church is to educate all people in the sound doctrines of the Word of God and to help the people learn how to apply the truths found therein to their lives. Not just a single part of their lives…..to their entire life….every area of their life…church life, home life, kid life, school life, college life, party life, marriage life, sex life, parenting life, job life, political life, social life, etc.

The people of the church are shifting from this “members only” mentality to a “members and NOT YET members welcome” mentality. Communities have been changed already because of this shift. The one in which I volunteer as one of the church youth ministry leaders has actually asked our church (the largest in the community, but hey, it’s a small town, a farm town) to be very involved in the largest community celebration times next month. What an honor and testament to the work and power and effect of the correct application and ability of the truths of God’s Word and God Himself. Hallelujah!!

Other much larger examples of the uprising and involvement of the church is Saddleback Church and Pastor Rick Warren, crossing the supposed lines of church and state when he had the Saddleback Civil Forum involving our current President Obama and Senator McCain. Many other exist and are growing.

Youth ministries have been doing this all along, reaching out to hurting kids to show them the RIGHT and life changing love of Christ. I have joked with my Pastor when talking about the frustrations of ministry to people....teens can be so frustrating sometimes, but you have to deal with the adults, YIKES!!! A very respected professor of mine back in college quoted someone saying, “The church would be a great place, if it weren’t for one thing…..the people.” :-) Yet like last week when one of our teens accepted Christ as his Savior, everyone agrees heartily, if he is the only one that ever gets saved during our time doing all this work (though we hope, pray, and strive to help more see the truth of Christ)….that one life is all worth it.

Yes, the church has been making a comeback lately and this leads to revival. It starts with one person and like a wild fire, it spreads. Only this time it’s the devil and his demons that are the firefighters…..there is a deep thought!!