I'm sure that everyone is noticing the improvements that are being made on our buildings and grounds these days. Many have worked hard, the changes are obvious, but we all know that there is still much to be done.
This is just like our spiritual lives. As we allow God to work at renovating and rehabilitating the damage that sin has brought, the changes are obvious. We don't have to announce it or bring attention to the new things. They are conspicuous in and of themselves and it is so encouraging when someone close to us notices and says something like, "Hey, I see Jesus more clearly through you." Even when we are blessed to receive an encouraging word like that, we still know that there is much work to be done, AND IT WILL BE by the One who began it in us...Yes, faithful is He who called us who will also do it. May He do something NEW in you this week that others will readily notice, declare it to you and may He (the Author of it) receive the Glory and Honor due His matchless Name.
Blessings,
Mitch
Monday, July 30, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
Worship...
A. W. Tozer, prior to his death in 1963, expressed the opinion that "worship acceptable to God is the missing crown jewel in evangelical Christianity." I quote him here from his book entitled, "Whatever Happened To Worship?" A Call To True Worship:
Whatever happened to worship? ...Perhaps you do not think this is an important matter.... We have great churches, we have beautiful worship centers and we sing etc., but there is every indication that we are in need of worshipers. We have many that are willing to serve in a host of capacities but never show up for prayer...many who will help run the church, but you can't get them to the prayer meeting. They are not worshipers. It is a frightful thing that leaders who do not pray and do not worship are...determining the direction our churches will take.
Because we are not truly worshipers, we spend a lot of time spinning our wheels, burning the gasoline, making a noise but not getting anywhere. What are we going to do about this awesome, beautiful worship that God calls for? I would rather worship God than do any other thing I know of in all this wide world. Some may reply: "If you worship God you do nothing else", but that only reveals that you have not done your homework. The scripture reveals that worship prepares you to zero in on the important things that must be done for God. In the first church, the apostles "devoted themselves to the Word of God and prayer". Practically every great deed done in the church of Christ, all the way back to the apostle Paul, was done by people blazing with radiant worship of their God. Church history proves it was the yearning worshipers who became the great workers...to the point that we must wonder how they ever did it all. So...
We will be making a mistake to just stand back and say, "If we give ourselves to worship, noone will do anything." God is looking for worshipers (John 4:23)...and I want to be among them. Oh that we could get back to acceptable worship again. Then when people come into the church they will instantly sense that they have come among a holy people, God's people. They can testify, "Of a truth God is in this place."
...Strong and needed words for us all, but keeping first things first will always keep us postured for God's best, God's help, God's direction and certain success.
Blessings,
Mitch
Whatever happened to worship? ...Perhaps you do not think this is an important matter.... We have great churches, we have beautiful worship centers and we sing etc., but there is every indication that we are in need of worshipers. We have many that are willing to serve in a host of capacities but never show up for prayer...many who will help run the church, but you can't get them to the prayer meeting. They are not worshipers. It is a frightful thing that leaders who do not pray and do not worship are...determining the direction our churches will take.
Because we are not truly worshipers, we spend a lot of time spinning our wheels, burning the gasoline, making a noise but not getting anywhere. What are we going to do about this awesome, beautiful worship that God calls for? I would rather worship God than do any other thing I know of in all this wide world. Some may reply: "If you worship God you do nothing else", but that only reveals that you have not done your homework. The scripture reveals that worship prepares you to zero in on the important things that must be done for God. In the first church, the apostles "devoted themselves to the Word of God and prayer". Practically every great deed done in the church of Christ, all the way back to the apostle Paul, was done by people blazing with radiant worship of their God. Church history proves it was the yearning worshipers who became the great workers...to the point that we must wonder how they ever did it all. So...
We will be making a mistake to just stand back and say, "If we give ourselves to worship, noone will do anything." God is looking for worshipers (John 4:23)...and I want to be among them. Oh that we could get back to acceptable worship again. Then when people come into the church they will instantly sense that they have come among a holy people, God's people. They can testify, "Of a truth God is in this place."
...Strong and needed words for us all, but keeping first things first will always keep us postured for God's best, God's help, God's direction and certain success.
Blessings,
Mitch
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Back...Finally!
Just curious...it's been a month since I last posted on this blog. I'd be glad to know if you missed it...wondering if this part of our website is helpful to you. I'd love to hear from you. Please send your comments to mitch@fellowshiponline.org I enjoy writing and sharing my thoughts. Let me know your constructive insights or how it has blessed you. It will be appreciated.
I've been soaking in the writings of Henri Nouwen lately. Thought I'd pass this nugget of his along to you. Read and be blessed:
Prayer means entering into communion with the One who loved us before we could love. It is this "first love" (1 John 4:19) that is revealed to us in prayer. The more deeply we enter into the house of God, the house whose language is prayer, the less dependant we are on the blame or praise of those who surround us, and the freer we are to let our whole being be filled with that first love. As long as we are still wondering what other people say or think about us and trying to act in ways that will elicit a positive response, we are still victimized and imprisoned by the dark world in which we live. In that dark world we have to let our surroundings tell us what we are worth.... As long as we are in the clutches of that world, we live in darkness, since we do not know our true self, our identity. We cling to our false self in the hope that maybe more success, more praise, more satisfaction will give us the experience of being loved, which we crave. That is the fertile ground of bitterness, greed, violence, and war.
In prayer, however, again and again we discover that the love we are looking for has already been given to us. ...In that first love, lies our true self, a self not made up of the rejections and acceptances of those with whom we live, but solidly rooted in the One who called us into existence.
Blessings,
Mitch
I've been soaking in the writings of Henri Nouwen lately. Thought I'd pass this nugget of his along to you. Read and be blessed:
Prayer means entering into communion with the One who loved us before we could love. It is this "first love" (1 John 4:19) that is revealed to us in prayer. The more deeply we enter into the house of God, the house whose language is prayer, the less dependant we are on the blame or praise of those who surround us, and the freer we are to let our whole being be filled with that first love. As long as we are still wondering what other people say or think about us and trying to act in ways that will elicit a positive response, we are still victimized and imprisoned by the dark world in which we live. In that dark world we have to let our surroundings tell us what we are worth.... As long as we are in the clutches of that world, we live in darkness, since we do not know our true self, our identity. We cling to our false self in the hope that maybe more success, more praise, more satisfaction will give us the experience of being loved, which we crave. That is the fertile ground of bitterness, greed, violence, and war.
In prayer, however, again and again we discover that the love we are looking for has already been given to us. ...In that first love, lies our true self, a self not made up of the rejections and acceptances of those with whom we live, but solidly rooted in the One who called us into existence.
Blessings,
Mitch
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