Churches Have Personalities

Have you ever noticed that every church wants to emulate the details of success used by mega-churches around our country? They often try and fail even when they use the same formulas and ministries. 

The members are discontent if their church does not provide the same level of entertainment as these mega churches; yet, they are unwilling to serve in areas that would help their church to grow or to share the gospel with more people.

They criticize the leadership and nag the Senior Pastor about their pet peeves. They fail to give a tithe of their income and they go on more vacations and buy more "toys" than their lifestyle can comfortably support.

What people fail to realize, the leadership included, is that God gives each church a different personality, mission purpose and anointing. In Revelation, Jesus sharply criticizes most of the seven churches for not following His will for their ministry.

Unless the Lord builds the church, we labor in vain (Psalm 127:1). We spin our wheels and live in constant discontent, disillusionment and distraction. We get so caught up in the good things that we fail to fulfill God's purpose for our church life.

The church leadership needs a time of pray to develop their mission statement - not a catchy phrase to put on publications and electronic media, but an actual mission statement from God.

As a unified group, once they hear from God, they can equip the Saints for the work of their ministry (Ephesians 4:12-16). This allows the whole church to be on the same page with the same focus and the same passion.

If church leadership or ministries have divided or conflicting goals, the lack of unity will actually obstruct their prayers (1 Peter 3:7). We are also hindered by the end time mindset by which the love of many grows cold (Matthew 24:12).

However, there is still a remnant of authentic Believers hungry for doing the will of God with their individual and church family life. There is no price too great for them to pay in order to further God's Kingdom on the earth.

Prayer:

Father God, inspire Your authentic Believers who are gathered in local church bodies around the world to do Your will in their community. You may not want a particular church to be big; but You always equip it to be effective in reaching the people in its church field.

Help us to hear Your voice to know what You are calling us to do as Your local church family in the area in which You planted us. We do not want to spin our wheels, but we want to have traction to serve in the areas in which You created and called us to minister in Your name and according to Your will.

Thought for the Day:

God is calling us to put our time, talent and energy into true religion rather than programs and superfluous ministries that do not impact His Kingdom or change lives. - James 1:27

Formula For Success

Read: Matthew 25:40-45

“Give and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." - Luke 6:38

In today’s society many people want to know, “What’s in it for me?” Their carnal desires fuel their actions to attain anything that will provide them with the best possible advantage. They constantly seek an angle that gives them an edge over the next guy. Then they stab one another in the back to get ahead.

God gave us a much simpler formula for success. Rather than to amass the treasures of this world, He suggests that we give them away! He promises that if we do, we will receive with the same measure for which we give to others who have legitimate needs (Luke 6:38). If we use a teaspoon to measure our giving, we will reap a teaspoon of rewards. If we use a ton, we will reap a ton of blessings. We cannot fail when we live according to God’s principles.

Hospitality is part of God’s plan for our success. He is not asking us to rescue people who are lazy or to enable those who live in a habitual state of irresponsibility and unreliability. However, He does promise to greet us as blessed children and to give us the inheritance of His Kingdom if we treat others as if He is the one in need.

He calls us to feed the hungry, to provide for those without material possessions, to give a drink to the thirsty, to visit the sick and imprisoned, and to take care of strangers because we may be entertaining and angel without even knowing it (Matthew 25:40-45; Hebrews 12:2).

Jesus exhorts us to invite others to dinner without concern for their social status (1 Corinthians 12:23). He says that as we give hospitality to others, we are doing it for Him. He reminds us that the reason we receive this world’s goods is in order to be good stewards over them and to share them with others (1 Peter 4:10).

1 Kings 17:12-16 contains one of my favorite Bible lessons. The widow goes to the prophet for help and he asks her to bake him some bread with her remaining supplies. Rather than stingily hoarding her meager commodities, she liberally uses them all up to provide for the Lord’s prophet. In return, “she and he and her household ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry.” As we liberally give from whatever God gives to us, we too find everything necessary to meet all of our needs.

Compassion is the next tool in God’s plan for our success. The language of love always triumphs over greed. Jesus exemplifies what it means to show compassion. Repeatedly the gospels record that “He was moved with compassion.” Jesus’ compassion eventually led Him to His dreadful death by a Roman crucifixion.

God knows our frail humanity and views our weaknesses with compassion (Psalm 145:8-9). Peter exhorts us in his epistle to have compassion for one another, not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but blessing others so that we may inherit a blessing (1 Peter 3:8-10).

Prayer:

Father God, as we show hospitality and compassion to others, You promise to shower us with material and spiritual blessings. You exhort us to use the abundance You give to us as faithful stewards. You also give us strength of character to help us to make our place in the world a better place in which to live. Your most important gift to us is the gospel story of salvation through Jesus Christ. You desire that we share this gift with everyone You bring our way, so that You can revitalize every life that hears and believes Your gospel message.

Thought for the Day:

We reap what we sow. – Galatians 6:7-9