What happens next?
If these statistics are true, then I'm really starting to get worried. I think part of it is, we all think, but I'm just one person. And rather than laying down our lives for God, we would rather take the easy way out, and say... eh... someone will talk to them and help them. But, why not us? Shouldn't our duty be... to love God first.... and then... and only then, to love our neighbor as ourselves?
34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sad'ducees, they came together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, to test him. 36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 37 And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets."
I just had one thought come to mind. Notice that verse 39 says, "and a second is like it". Wow, that is very different than just naming the second as loving your neighbor as yourself. To me, that is saying that you shall love your neighbor in similar fashion to loving God. I won't say it's the same, but I will say it is... "like it".
We have some guys in our group at Westlake (and a few who don't attend out church) who are having struggles. To admit that I don't have any would be stupid. But, I'm taking a stand with them. I won't sit idly by and just watch them go down in flames. With every fiber of my being... I'll do whatever it takes, I'll go where God wants me to go, but I will take a stand. I ask that you all stand with me. Let's stand in the gap and reach the lost, and reach these kids who have no clue what is going on. Let's reach these broken families that Satan is tearing apart. Go to battle with me and with your God!
Wow...the Braveheart music is the rug that brings the room together..."outlawed tunes...on outlawed pipes."
Way of the Pastor,
Joe Drew
peoplespastor said...
May 8, 2008 11:04 PM
All for you buddy!
In the Battle said...
May 9, 2008 4:53 AM
I have heard of bars being turned into churches...but i have to honestly say that is the first church i have heard of being turned into a bar. So whose fate would be worse? The people in it now or the people who used to be in it?
Way of the Pastor,
Joe Drew
peoplespastor said...
May 9, 2008 10:55 AM
The good news is... a church is just a building. There isn't really anything sacred about it. It might be to us, but really you could meet in your house and call that church. I'm just wondering about those statistics... Have we really done that bad of a job? Are people just not listening? Is a combination of these things? Shouldn't there be a sense of urgency?
I will say that I haven't invited one person to church who lives near me... and that's hard. In other words, as Christians... we feel like we have to walk on eggshells around people any more. It just feels like it's O.K. for people to voice their opinion towards us, but once we voice ours back, we get a verbal lashing back at us... telling us how dare you talk to us that way?
In the Battle said...
May 9, 2008 11:18 AM
Yeah I wasn't talking about a building...I was talking about the people who called themselves the church who met in a building before it got turned into a club. My mind is itching as to what happened? Was thier focus in the right place? Did they loose heart and quit? Just wondering.
Way of the Pastor,
Joe
peoplespastor said...
May 9, 2008 7:57 PM
I wonder the same thing, and I think the lesson to learn from it is to have an unfailing commitment to never quit or give up for the sake of God. We need to have this constant longing in our heart to reach out to people!
In the Battle said...
May 11, 2008 10:45 AM
It doesn't bother me that people use churches for bars,restaurants or other things. It's just a building. The dead lives bother me. I know I've been dead at church, even hung over at times. You don't realize the devastation until you are awake. I don't know how many times the Spirit of God has awakened me just to see me fall asleep again. Who wants to be involved in a dead church? If we want to be apart of the big story we must stay awake! We must keep each other awake! Only then can we be compassionate enough through the Holy Spirit to reach out and change the lives of others. Revive us and purify our hearts, oh God!
moghrotarum said...
May 19, 2008 8:30 PM
The more I think about it... the more I realize that we got to have this undying, continuing, pursuing love for others. Just laying down and letting things happen, is NOT going to work. (Been there, done that) We have to lay down our lives for the sake of others!
In the Battle said...
May 22, 2008 9:44 PM